France foils Charlie Hebdo anniversary beheading plot

France holds three suspected of plotting to kidnap and behead a military official to coincide with the January anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo killings.

By Henry Samuel, published in the Telegraph July 20, 2015

France has thwarted a plot to kidnap and behead a senior military official and post the act on the internet, the interior minister announced on Wednesday night.

The three suspects had planned to time the murder for next January to coincide with the anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo killings in which Islamist gunmen killed 12 at the satirical weekly. They had intended to film their act with a GoPro camera and post it online.

The plot bears similarities with the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby, the British soldier of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers hacked to death in London by Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale in May 2013.

On Monday, police had seized four individuals aged between 16, 17, 19 and 23 from four separate locations in the North, Yvelines near Paris, south-western Rhône and the Bouches du Rhône near Marseille. One of the suspects was a former member of the French navy... Read more.