Authorities claim the Marseille failed asylum seeker terror attacker Ahmed Hanachi picked up 2,000 euros shortly before he killed two young women in front of a train station on Sunday, fueling speculation about his motives.
Police have questioned why Hanachi received the money leading to speculation the payment may have had something to do with the attack that killed two girls on Sunday.
A source close to the investigation said that police believe “nothing at this time indicates that these sums were given for committing his crimes”. The man was a known small-time criminal having been arrested over a dozen times since entering the country, L’Express reports.
Police are still investigating the motive for the brutal attack saying that whilst Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the incident, police are still working on finding more concrete links between the 29-year-old Tunisian and the terror group.
Hanachi’s house was also searched and four associates of the Tunisian have been arrested under suspicion of being in contact with and being a part of a terrorist association.
Shortly after Hanachi, who came to France illegally in 2005, was identified as the attacker, reports showed that he had avoided deportation only one day before the attack took place.
Attacks by failed asylum seekers have become increasingly more common in recent years. The most notorious case involved another failed Tunisian asylum seeker who was also involved in crime. Anis Amri killed a dozen people and injured another 56 in Berlin in December of last year when he drove a truck through a crowded Christmas market.
In Sweden, another failed asylum seeker committed murder in an Ikea killing a woman and her son after becoming distraught following being told he would be deported from the country.