French authorities are investigating whether a car-service driver was planning an attack after explosives were found in his apartment, a government spokesman said Tuesday, just days after a man plowed a truck through a crowd in Nicekilling 84 people, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Police pulled over the driver this weekend, suspecting his involvement in a burglary, and discovered stolen documents in his car, French radio station Europe 1 reported Tuesday. Authorities later found sticks of dynamite in his home and an image of the Islamic-State flag on his phone, Europe 1 reported.
Asked about the report, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Tuesday that the suspect is in police custody and an investigation has been opened.
“Is this proof that an attack was being prepared? That’s what the investigation will seek to determine,” Mr. Le Foll added. Prosecutors in Paris who oversee the country’s antiterrorism investigations haven’t been assigned to the probe, a spokeswoman for Paris prosecutors said.
France remains on edge from a series of terrorist attacks over the last 18 months. The socialist government of President François Hollande is under pressure from the conservative opposition party Les Républicains to show it is doing all it can to thwart attacks.
“Fourteen attacks have been foiled,” Justice Minister Jean-Jacques Urvoas told French radio on Tuesday, defending the government. “The action is daily.”