The neighbour of a man who attempted to assassinate several police officers in Colombes on Monday has been arrested for claiming he has the same “plans” as the suspected terrorist.
Police arrested the 20-year-old while searching the home of 29-year-old Youssef Tihlah, who rammed his car into two police officers on motorbikes on Monday in an attempt to kill the officers in an apparent terrorist attack.
The neighbour challenged police, according to a report from Le Point, and said that he had similar “plans” as the attacker, without specifying any details.
Pictures of the attack were also found on his mobile phone with investigators waiting to determine if he took the photos and videos himself or if they were sent to him.
The two officers involved in Monday’s attack were rushed to a hospital but were not in life-threatening condition. One officer received injuries to the head, while the other was hit in the pelvis and leg as the car crushed their motorcycles against another vehicle.
A note was found in the BMW car used by the 29-year-old that claimed his motive for the attack was the situation in Palestine and the treatment of the Palestinian people.
“He said during his arrest that he had watched videos on Palestine before acting,” a prosecutor said.
Prosecutor of the Republic of Nanterre, Catherine Denis, added that the man had no recent criminal record and was not on the French terror watchlist known as the S-File.
The incident comes less than a month after Sudanese migrant Abdallah Ahmed-Osman carried out a knife attack in Romans-sur-Isère, killing two and injuring seven others in a terrorist attack.
It was later found that Ahmed-Osman had “handwritten documents with religious connotations… in which the author complains in particular that he lives in a country of non-believers”, according to prosecutors.
Since the implementation of the Wuhan coronavirus lockdown by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, French authorities have started investigations into at least nine terrorist cases.