Three radical Islamists have been detained in northern France on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack, TASS reported citing Le Parisien newspaper.

The detainees are between 19 and 24 years old natives of the communes of Lille and Dunkirk in the north of the country. The youngest of them is considered to be the leader of the group who urged his accomplices to “drown the infidels in blood” in his messages and glorified terrorist attacks committed earlier in France. He has also previously come under scrutiny by law enforcement for threatening a French woman named Mila who was subjected to online harassment, including death threats, for making public statements about Islam. He also recorded a pledge of allegiance to the Islamic State.

The suspects were apprehended after a relative of one of them notified law enforcement authorities of his suspicions about their intentions to act. The French police, together with representatives of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI, internal intelligence) searched their homes and learned that they were making a suicide bomber vest: at that point it was filled with ordinary firecrackers, but, as suspected by operatives, the young men only used them as a pilot and were going to fill the vest with more powerful explosives. The history of Internet searches on their computers contained queries for the manufacture of a powerful explosive.

Investigators will have to find out to which extent the potential terrorists were prepared for the attack and what was its estimated timing. The extremists discussed various public places as targets, including a youth hostel in the north of the country, a restaurant, a nightclub and a certain facility belonging to the Jewish community. Two of the detainees have been remanded in custody, while the third has been released under judicial supervision, as so far he can only be prosecuted for “failure to report an offence.”