Weapons cache found at home of Champs-Élysées attacker

A man killed while ramming a car loaded with guns and a gas canister into a police van on Paris's Champs-Élysées stored a cache of weapons at his home and had a gun permit, French officials revealed on Tuesday.

The man, who has yet to be identified by French prosecutors, held the gun permit despite being on a secret service list of people linked to radical Islam.

A judicial source said investigators were compiling an inventory of the arms and equipment found in the 31-year-old’s home. His vehicle also contained an assault rifle, two pistols, ammunition and two large gas canisters when he rammed it into a police convoy on Monday.

The revelation of the discovery came after Prime Minister Édouard Philippe expressed dismay that the attacker was able to have a gun permit despite being on a jihadist watchlist.

Philippe said the individual first received a permit to possess a gun before he was flagged to intelligence agencies as a potential militant threat. At the time there was no reason to deny him the permit, Philippe said.

He noted that it was “quite possible” the licence was active at the time the attacker was on a security database. Three sources close to the investigation told the AFP news agency it was.

“Nobody can be happy, and certainly not me, that someone who has been flagged to security agencies can continue to benefit from such an authorisation,” Philippe told BFM TV.

The man was placed on France’s so called “Fiche S” watchlist after he was found to belong to a radical Islamist movement, two police sources said.

Individuals on the list are placed under surveillance though the intensity of that surveillance varies depending on the perceived threat the individual poses.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)

Date created : 2017-06-20