The suspicions of the intelligence services were well founded. Explosive products were discovered on Thursday in a building in Épinal after an intervention by the police, we learned from the prosecution. At 1 p.m., the operation carried out by police officers from the Epinal police station and the Raid (Research, assistance, intervention, deterrence unit) in Nancy was still in progress.
The intervention started in the early morning. "This is an administrative home visit authorized by a liberty and detention judge of the Paris judicial court in connection with the anti-terrorist prosecution", explained the public prosecutor to Épinal, Nicolas Heitz.
An intervention linked to terrorism?
A police source assured that it was an intervention "on background" of terrorism. According to the Vosges Matin newspaper, which revealed the facts, this police operation "follows weak signals from territorial intelligence suggesting the possible presence in a street building of a person who may be part of the Islamist movement". According to France Bleu, the anti-terrorist prosecution has not yet been seized at this stage, even if it "follows the situation". An individual was also arrested, adds Vosges morning.
Nicolas Heitz went on the spot "taking into account the objects which were discovered", he declared, confirming that they were explosive products, without further details. A team of deminers was expected on the spot to determine the nature of these explosives, he added.
The street was closed, according to the mayor, Michel Heinrich, but "there was no confinement of school, college or high school, except one at the initiative of the head of the establishment". "It is very calm, even if there has been unrest on social networks," commented Michel Heinrich.
