Earlier this week, French anti-terrorist police arrested a man in his 40s who is believed to have been behind at least sixty car burnings since 2017, many of the vehicles belonging to public companies.
The man, who was not identified by name, was arrested last weekend and has been placed in pre-trial detention after being accused of setting at least 60 vehicles on fire since 2017, many of them belonging to various companies, including telecommunications companies.
The anti-terrorist sub-directorate (SDAT) of the judicial police is said to have carried out the arrest after the man was accused of setting a diplomatic vehicle on fire in the 17th arrondissement of Paris on the night of June 10th, Europe1 reports.
Investigators say the man, who is believed to be linked to the far-left extremist movement, was already under investigation and was known to police after a series of arson attacks on public companies and telecommunications companies.
The suspected far-left extremist is also said to have been an administrator for a website in which he allegedly claimed credit for various acts and boasted about being so well versed in privacy techniques as to navigate the streets of Paris and avoid CCTV detection.
France has seen a series of attacks on various companies, particularly telecommunications companies, in recent years, many of which have seen far-left extremists take credit in the aftermath.
Earlier this year in April, an arson attack, deemed to be a deliberate act of sabotage, on a bridge near the city of Grenoble left 5,000 people without power. Some speculated that the attack was caused by far-left extremists who may have been targeting nearby semiconductor factories.
Just weeks later, a massive internet outage across France took place when fibre optic lines connecting Paris and Lyon and Paris and Strasbourg appear to have been purposely cut. While no far-left extremists were suspected in the incident, the method of sabotage echoes incidents extremists have taken credit for in the past.