Four individuals, together with an officer who labored at a police intelligence heart, are being held over alleged hyperlinks to Amedy Coulibaly, the kosher deli hostage-taker who killed 5 individuals throughout terror attacks in Paris earlier this 12 months.
The suspects are being questioned as a part of the continuing investigation into the January attacks – together with the bloodbath at satirical journal Charlie Hebdo – which claimed 17 lives in three days.
A policewoman recognized solely as Emmanuelle is among the suspects, French media reported. The girl – who transformed to Islam two years in the past, unbeknownst to her superiors – was stationed at a high-security police intelligence headquarters in the jap suburbs of Paris on the time of the attacks.
Emmanuelle allegedly switched her police cap for an Islamic headband when leaving work. Sources near the investigation say there isn’t a proof straight linking her to the Jewish deli assault.
In the aftermath of the bloodbath, Emmanuelle allegedly consulted laptop recordsdata on her boyfriend, Amar R., who can also be one of many 4 presently being questioned. The girl was reportedly looking for out how a lot authorities knew about her boyfriend, who’s believed to be a relative of Coulibaly. Emmanuelle was suspended from her duties on the finish of final month, based on Le Figaro.
Amar R. was seen close to the kosher grocery store and in the corporate of Coulibaly in the lead-up to the January 9 assault. He was arrested on January 23 underneath a European arrest warrant issued by Spain for drug trafficking and arms smuggling. However, he had not been questioned in regards to the Paris attacks till now.
Details of the opposite two suspects haven’t but been launched.
Coulibaly fatally shot an unarmed policewoman on January eight earlier than taking hostages on the Porte Vincennes grocery store in the east of Paris the next day. After Coulibaly shot and killed 4 different individuals, police stormed the constructing and fatally shot him.
During the siege, Coulibaly advised authorities that he had coordinated the assault with the Charlie Hebdo killers, however didn’t present any further particulars.
His widow, Hayat Boumeddiene, crossed into Syria on January eight after touring to Turkey every week earlier.