PARIS: Police in France have detained three teenagers who were allegedly in contact with four people arrested in Belgium over the weekend on suspicions they were planning a jihadist attack, a source close to the case said Tuesday.
The three minors, aged 15 to 17, are not thought to be implicated directly in what was considered a looming attack on a Brussels concert hall, but allegedly have espoused extremist Islamist beliefs, the source said, confirming an online report by France’s Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
Belgian police on Sunday detained three minors in their “late teens” and an 18-year-old for what prosecutors said were messages plotting an attack deemed “imminent enough to intervene.”
A source close to the investigation told AFP the three minors in particular were targeting the Botanique cultural complex, one of the capital’s best-known sites.
The initial investigation indicates the adult suspect was planning a separate attack, and was in contact with one of the three minors.
The arrests stemmed from a police operation looking into people deemed potentially violent and with links to Islamic extremism.
The suspects were arrested in raids on home addresses in the cities of Brussels, Ninove, Charleroi and Liege.
No weapons or explosives were found. Police took away mobile phones and laptops for analysis.
Belgian authorities remain highly vigilant since the 2016 jihadist attacks by suicide bombers that killed more than 30 people in blasts at the Brussels airport and the city’s metro system.
And in October last year, a Tunisian man shot dead two Swedish football fans in Brussels before being shot and killed by police.
France arrests three teens over links to Brussels jihadist suspects
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France arrests three teens over links to Brussels jihadist suspects
- The arrests stemmed from a police operation looking into people deemed potentially violent and with links to Islamic extremism
Sweden seizes false-flagged ship with suspected stolen Ukrainian grain
- The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it had been informed by the Swedish coast guard that 10 of the crew were Russian citizens
STOCKHOLM: Police in Sweden have seized a false-flagged cargo ship off its southern coast believed to belong to Russia’s shadow fleet and suspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain, authorities said Saturday.
The 96-meter (315-foot) Caffa left Casablanca in Morocco on February 24 and was headed for Saint Petersburg, Russia when armed Swedish police boarded it on Friday off the southern town of Trelleborg.
“The vessel is on the Ukraine sanctions list. Information indicates that it has essentially been used to transport grain that is stolen, as we understand it, from Ukraine,” the coast guard’s acting head of operations, Daniel Stenling, told a press conference.
“We have been able to establish that the vessel is sailing under a false flag. She is registered in Guinea, but that registration is in fact false,” he added.
“A majority” of the 11 crew members were Russian, Stenling said.
The Russian embassy in Stockholm said it had been informed by the Swedish coast guard that 10 of the crew were Russian citizens.
“The Russian embassy in Sweden is in contact with the competent Swedish authorities and is ready, if necessary, to provide consular assistance to the Russian nationals among the crew,” it wrote on Telegram.
One crew member was under investigation for violation of the maritime code on seaworthiness and on ship safety, Stenling said, refusing to disclose the suspect’s identity or crew role.
“The investigative measures we have taken so far reinforce our suspicions and our view that there are extensive maritime safety deficiencies on this vessel,” he said.
The Swedish Transport Agency was to inspect the ship and determine whether it was seaworthy and authorized to continue its journey.
- ‘Risk of accidents’ -
Moscow’s “shadow fleet” consists of vessels with opaque ownership used to skirt Western sanctions.
“It’s a problem for us that we are seeing more ships that don’t respect the law of the sea,” Stenling said, noting that “the risk of accidents increases when ships are not certified.”
“We might not even know what kind of crew is on board, what kind of skills they have, what certifications they hold, and they often lack insurance if something were to happen,” he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga on Saturday thanked Sweden.
“Collective action against such vessels is gaining momentum. This is a welcome development,” he wrote on X.
“Sanctions work when they are strictly enforced. Together, we must stop the activities of Russia’s shadow fleet to protect Europe’s security and environment.”
