French authorities have charged and detained four Pakistanis suspected of links to a meat cleaver attack by a compatriot outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly that wounded two people, the national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said Friday.
The four suspects, aged 17 to 21, were in contact with the attacker, said a source.
They are suspected of being aware of the attacker’s plot and inciting him to carry it out, according to another judicial source close to the investigation.
Three of them were charged on Friday with taking part in a terrorist conspiracy and placed in pre-trial detention. The fourth had already been charged on Wednesday. “They share his ideology and one of them expressed his hatred of France a few days before the action,” said a source.