Man Indicted for Threatening Le Mans Mosque Attack, Illegal Weapons Possession

The month of March will mark the beginning of an investigation opened following the "report made by a young man of Maghrebi origin, a user of the Azar video exchange network," said Franck Hemery, territorial director of the judicial police in Angers, to AFP. This Internet user had just exchanged with the suspect on this network. The latter had a swastika on his temple and told his interlocutor that he was going to attack the worshippers of a mosque in Le Mans and that "a lot of people are going to leave with him" (to heaven, note).

"It is a young man who had the presence of mind to take screenshots of the individual and the weapons that this gentleman had exhibited, which allowed us to quickly launch the investigation with the help of the intelligence services, and to identify the author of the threats," confirms Franck Hemery, divisional commissioner of the judicial police in Angers, to Europe 1.

The Raid managed to locate and then arrest this 24-year-old man, known to the police for acts of voluntary violence, driving without a license and shoplifting in Challans (Vendée). Investigators seized several weapons at his home, including a pump-action shotgun and a hunting rifle, as well as numerous cartridges. During his custody, the suspect said he harbored "hatred against Arabs."