Teen terror plot to attack Olympics foiled by French security services

London: French security services have arrested a teenager suspected of plotting an Islamic State-inspired attack during the Paris Olympic Games, officials said on Friday.

An 18-year-old man from Chechnya, who wanted “to die and become a martyr”, was said to be targeting the Geoffroy-Guichard Stadium in Saint-Étienne, which will hold football matches during the Games to be held from July 26 to August 11.

Police officers patrol the Trocadero plaza near the Eiffel Tower in October 2023. Security authorities have foiled a plan to attack soccer events during the Paris Olympics.Credit: AP

France is on its highest terror alert level ahead of the Games, when about 10 million visitors and 10,000 athletes are expected. The events will be held mostly in the capital, but other towns and cities around the country will also host some disciplines as well as individual games.

The domestic intelligence agency, the DGSI, arrested the teen in Saint-Étienne, south-west of Lyon, on May 22, authorities said, calling it the “first foiled attack against the Olympic Games”.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the suspect had “intended to attack spectators” but also security forces to “die and become a martyr”, adding that it was the 50th attack foiled by intelligence services since 2017. The teenager had been scouting locations, according to a source close to the investigation.

Darmanin said the suspect was arrested at home.

France’s anti-terror prosecutor’s office, PNAT, said the teenager was charged on Sunday with terrorist conspiracy with a view to preparing crimes against a person. He was subsequently remanded in custody. Investigations are continuing as part of a judicial inquiry.

Among the matches due to be held at the stadium in Saint-Étienne are France against Canada and the United States versus Guinea. Morocco will also take on both Argentina and Ukraine in the city, with Canada playing New Zealand and Germany facing Zambia.

French authorities remain nervous about the security situation, especially since the outbreak of war in Gaza in October, and face persistent questions about the risk of an attack. The Olympics have been attacked before. In 1972 in Munich, two members of the Israeli team were killed and nine taken hostage by a Palestinian militant organisation; and in 1996 in Atlanta, a domestic terrorist pipe bombing killed one person and injured 111.

Darmanin said there were multiple potential threats, including those from Islamic extremist groups, violent environmental activists, far-right groups and cyberattacks from Russia or other adversaries. Most concerns have focused on the opening ceremony on July 26, which will take place over a six-kilometre stretch of the River Seine – the first time a Summer Olympics has begun outside an athletics stadium.

More than 45,000 officers will police the vast area, and large parts of the city’s centre will be out of bounds for everyone except ticket holders and residents.

France has been repeatedly hit by deadly Islamic State attacks, including the Bataclan theatre massacre in 2015 in which extremists opened fire on concert-goers and held hostages for hours. In October last year, a radicalised 20-year-old Chechen, who had sworn allegiance to IS, killed a teacher in the northern French town of Arras.

The Paris organising committee said in a statement it applauded the efficiency of the law-enforcement services and “their exceptional mobilisation to ensure the security of the Games”.

“Security is the No.1 priority for Paris 2024,” it said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said in April the opening ceremony could be moved from the Seine to a different site in the event of a security threat. Options include the Trocadero gardens, beneath the Eiffel Tower, or even the Stade de France.

The Olympic torch relay is under way in France, involving a “security bubble” of 100 officers including anti-drone specialists and anti-terror police. During the first three weeks of the 12,000-kilometre trip, 78 people were arrested for trying to disrupt the relay and 30 suspect drones were intercepted, according to the interior ministry.

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