Attempted murder involving soldiers attached to the DGSE: two new indictments

Two men, including a soldier attached to the General Directorate of External Security (DGSE), were indicted in the investigation into an attempted murder for which two other suspects linked to the DGSE were already imprisoned, announced Wednesday 5 August the Paris prosecutor's office.

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In total, five suspects, including three soldiers attached to the French spy service, are now prosecuted in this investigation and four of them are remanded in custody. According to a source familiar with the matter, the third soldier arrested was placed under judicial supervision.

The case started on July 24 with the arrest in Créteil (Val-de-Marne) of two men, aged 28 and 25, assigned to the specialized parachute training center of Saran (Loiret), which depends on the DGSE. Reported by a local resident, they were then in a stolen vehicle and in possession of several weapons, including a revolver and several army knives.

They " seemed to be preparing to carry out a criminal project to the detriment of a 54-year-old woman ," the prosecution said in a statement. A third suspect, working in the field of private security, was arrested two days later and then in turn imprisoned.

The DGSE at the heart of many cases

Last week, two other men, including a soldier also attached to the Saran center, were in turn arrested and indicted on Monday for " complicity in attempted murder in an organized gang " and " participation in an association of criminals in view of the commission of these crimes and offenses punishable by 10 years of imprisonment ”. One of them was also for " concealment in an organized robbery " and the other for " transport, acquisition, possession of category B weapons in assembly ".

The center to which the three soldiers are attached is one of the three in France of the action service of the DGSE, in charge of the clandestine operations made famous by the successful series “ Le Bureau des Légendes ”. The other centers are based in Quelerm, near Brest, and l'Esplira-de-l'Agly (Pyrénées-Orientales).

In September 2018, two former members of this action service had been in the crosshairs of the justice system as part of an investigation into a planned assassination of a Congolese opponent, General Ferdinand Mbaou, who took refuge in France in 1997. These two ex-agents were then indicted in Lyon for " criminal association " and " possession of explosives ". But, in March 2019, the body of one of them was found, riddled with bullets, in a parking lot in Savoie.