French authorities are questioning three people in connection with terrorist attacks 10 months apart.
Two suspects are being held as part of the investigation into January’s deadly siege of a kosher grocery store in the Paris suburb of Vincennes, a representative for French prosecutors told CNN.
Separately, a 29-year-old man was arrested Tuesday morning in connection with the series of November 13 attacks in Paris, according to a representative for the same office.
It wasn’t immediately known if the deadly terrorist attacks, or the arrests, are related.
The kosher market attack happened in the tense, frenetic days following the massacre at the Paris office of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine. Amedy Coulibalystormed the Hyper Cacher market January 9, killing four people and taking others hostage before police killed him.
The prosecutor’s office representative identified the pair being held in that case as Claude Hermant and his wife, both of whom are accused of being involved in arms trafficking.
Hermant has been held since January in an arms trafficking investigation. French media outlets have identified him as a well-known figure in far-right circles, particularly in the northern city of Lille, reporting that he was a former soldier who had worked as part of the security detail for the anti-immigration National Front political party.
There’s no evidence of a direct connection between the couple and Coulibaly, but some weapons found in Coulibaly’s arsenal are thought to have come from Hermant or his wife, through a company she managed, according to the Paris prosecutor’s representative.
Hermant was picked up from his jail cell in the Lille region, which is also the area where his wife was apprehended.
The January attacks rattled France, and terrorists upped the ante last month with the bombings and shootings in Paris that killed 130 people.
[Source:- CNN]