French law enforcement officers have been told to erase their social media presence and to carry their weapons at all times because terror sleeper cells have been activated over the last 24 hours in the country, a French police source who attended a briefing Saturday told CNN terror analyst Samuel Laurent, reports CNN.
Ahmedy Coulibaly, a suspect killed Friday during a deadly kosher market hostage siege, had made several phone calls about targeting police officers in France, according to the source.
It was one of a flurry of developments Saturday, including reporting in a French-language magazine that brothers Chérif and Saïd Kouachi had been under watch by the French, but despite red flags, authorities there lost interest in them.
L'Express national security reporter Eric Pelletier shared with CNN details of his story, for which he talked to multiple French officials.
Tipped off by U.S. intelligence agencies that Saïd Kouachi may have traveled to Yemen in July, France placed him under surveillance in November 2011 but terminated the scrutiny in June 2014 when French security services deemed him no longer dangerous, officials told Pelletier.
The surveillance of his brother Chérif terminated at the end of 2013 when his phone calls suggested he had disengaged with violent extremism and was focused on counterfeiting clothing and shoes.
A U.S. official told CNN's Barbara Starr that Saïd Kouachi's 2011 travel lasted three or more months and that he is believed to have trained with al Qaeda in Yemen during that period.