Prosecutors said Saturday that 21 suspects in a series of coordinated attacks on French prisons had been charged*, including two teenagers., reports RFI.
Investigators believe the attacks were carried out by drug traffickers, with at least one suspect thought to have ties to a notorious cartel.
Attackers in April struck at several jails and other facilities across France, torching cars, spraying the entrance of one prison with automatic gunfire and leaving mysterious inscriptions.
A total of 30 people, including four minors, were arrested this week in police raids across France. Seven of them were released without charge.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau told reporters Saturday that 19 of the suspects were being held in pre-trial custody, while the two adolescents had been placed in a detention facility for minors.
Read more of this report from RFI.
* Editor's note: Under a change to the French legal system introduced in 1993, a magistrate can decide if a suspect should be 'placed under investigation' (mis en examen), which is a status one step short of being charged (inculpé), if there is 'serious or concordant' evidence that they committed a crime. Some English-language media describe this status, peculiar to French criminal law, as that of being charged. In fact, it is only at the end of an investigation that a decision can be made to bring charges, in which case the accused is automatically sent for trial.