(TheProudRepublic.com) – Protecting thousands of innocent people from what could have been a massacre, a man from Egypt with ties to ISIS was taken into custody by French authorities on suspicion that he was plotting an attack against Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral.
The 62-year-old man was recently caught by the General Directorate of Internal Security (DGSI), France’s internal security agency, after news of his connections to ISIS and his planned target came to light through a report by Le Journal du Dimanche.
The man was then placed in pre-trial detention as of March 8th and charged with “criminal terrorist association,”
In response to this incident and broader security concerns, the French Ministry of the Interior emphasized its commitment to national safety by doubling DGSI personnel to over 5,000 agents.
The Ministry further said, “We have strengthened the security of places of worship and educational buildings, but also of transport and public buildings as well as festive, cultural and religious gatherings.
The man’s arrest comes after already-heightened security alerts in France were elevated to the max in the wake of an ISIS-claimed deadly attack in Moscow, which resulted in at least 143 deaths.
This amplified state of alert also follows an incident in October where a Chechen immigrant murdered a teacher after the terrorist group Hamas called for a global “day of jihad” after the October 7 attacks on Israel.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin highlighted the country’s constant vigilance against the threat of Islamist terrorism and noted that French intelligence and law enforcement thwart terror plots nearly every month, which underscores the permanent risk of Islamist extremism.
In a cautionary move, Darmanin also ordered the deployment of police forces to protect Catholic and Protestant churches during the weekend against potential threats to Christian places of worship from Muslim extremists.
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