Eight arrested in anti-Jihad raids near Paris, Lyon

Eight people suspected of involvement in a jihadi network were arrested on Tuesday morning, in raids in the Paris and Lyon areas.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve ©Reuters.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the arrests were the result of surveillance by France’s internal intelligence agency, the DGSI.

Those arrested are thought to be part of a jihadi network recruiting and arranging travel to Syria he told the press.

Among the seven men and one woman, aged between 21 and 46, three have been to Syria, returning in December, said a source close to the police operation.

The same source said those arrested originated from Turkey and North Africa.

Noting that the raids come a week after the arrests of five people in Lunel, in the south of France who “have been charged and are now in prison,” Cazeneuve declared that “this operation is a further demonstration of the total determination of the forces of law and order … to combat terrorism.”

The minister announced that he will be to to Brussels on Wednesday in a bid to advance the adoption of the Passenger Name Record database for EU flights. The PNR system is already used in the USA.

And at the end of February, he will hold talks with his US counterpart, as well as representatives from Google, Facebook, Twitter and Microsoft “to encourage them to join us in our combat against terrorist propaganda on the net and in social networks.”