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.
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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.