Two men and one woman were arrested by French authorities Monday, suspected of providing weapons to the Islamist terrorists who attacked the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in 2015.
Two of the arrests took place in Haute-Marne and in the Ardennes on Monday and another on Tuesday. A 28-year-old woman along with two men, one aged 46, were taken into custody as French investigators suspect they may have had a role in procuring weapons for the terror attackers L’Express reports.
The arrests are just the latest in a series of arrests related to the terror attack in which Islamist brothers Sherif and Said Kouachi gunned down twelve people including two police officers and eight employees of Charlie Hebdo. Some of the arrests were also linked to the Kosher supermarket terror attack committed by Amédy Coulibaly who killed four Jewish men.
A total of thirteen individuals have been arrested in connection with both of the attacks including many who are believed to have provided logistical support to Amédy Coulibaly.
Despite the attacks occurring two and a half years ago, authorities have yet to determine where the terrorists obtained their automatic weaponry. While they have attempted to crack into encrypted messaging applications, so far police have had trouble coming up with any concrete leads.
Military-grade weapons have been found on several occasions in France in recent months in various raids relating to drugs and organised crime. Last week police arrested four men in the regions of Eure-et-Loir, Eure and Yvelines after locating a massive weapons arsenal that included loaded anti-tank rocket launchers, automatic rifles and other military-style weapons.
While the raids that have turned up such weapons have been primarily linked to drug rings, other countries have noticed an overlap between drug gangs and radical Islamists.
In Germany, authorities arrested nine Syrian asylum seekers in July who were not only linked to radical Islamism but were part of the illegal narcotics scene as well.
Berlin Christmas Market terror attacker Anis Amri was also suspected of dealing drugs. Many have criticised Berlin police for not using the opportunity to deport the failed Tunisian asylum seeker before he committed the terror attack as they discovered his drug dealing a full month prior.
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