French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced “exceptional measures” on Wednesday to respond to the “change of scale” of the terrorist threat in the wake of deadly attacks two weeks ago in Paris.
Valls, speaking in Paris, said some 3,000 people in France with jihadist ties needed to be under surveillance — and that the number of people with links to networks in Iraq and Syria had increased by 130% in the past year.
In response to the threat, 2,680 new jobs will be created, of which intelligence services alone will account for 1,100, he said.
France will allocate 425 million euros ($490 million) over the next three years to boost the fight against extremism, Valls said.
These resources will be also used to buy new equipment, such as bulletproof vests and better weapons for police officers.
Valls’ announcement comes as Europe ramps up efforts against Islamist extremism in the wake of the Paris attacks.
The attacks this month against the satirical Charlie Hebdo magazine and a kosher supermarket have turned the spotlight on links between radical Islamists in Europe and terror networks elsewhere.
Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has claimed to be behind the January 7 massacre by gunmen Said and Cherif Kouachi at the offices of Charlie Hebdo.
And gunman Amedy Coulibaly, who attacked the kosher grocery store on January 9, proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.
Fingerprints found on gun, authorities say
Paris prosecutor François Molins told a news conference Wednesday that progress has been made in the investigation into the attack carried out by Coulibaly, but less so in the probe into the Kouachi brothers.
Molins identified four suspects still in custody as Willy P., Christophe R., Tonino G. and Michael A., giving only the first initial of their last names, and outlined details of the charges against them.
None of the four men has been charged with complicity in the kosher market attack.
The first three, Willy P., Christophe R. and Tonino G., were present when Coulibaly bought the Renault car that he used to reach the site of the attack. It was found parked near the Porte de Vincennes after the attack.
The fingerprints of the fourth suspect, named as Michael A., were found on one of the weapons that police discovered in Coulibaly’s secret apartment in Gentilly, authorities say.
His DNA was also found on a glove discovered at the scene of the crime, the prosecutor says.
In the days leading up to the attack, Michael A. had exchanged 362 text messages and 18 phone calls with Coulibaly, the prosecutor says. The two men met on January 5, four days before Coulibaly’s attack.
The four men in custody, all in their 20s, were among nine people arrested in a police operation Friday. Five other suspects held since Friday were released Monday night.
Belgium, Germany crack down
Amid heightened concern over the threat posed by radical Islamists in Europe, Belgium and Germany have cracked down on alleged extremists in recent days.
Belgian authorities continue the hunt for the ringleader behind a terrorist cell targeted in raids last week in which two suspects died.
The suspected key link between senior ISIS operatives in Syria and the Belgian terrorist cell — Belgian-Moroccan ISIS fighter Abdelhamid Abaaoud — is still at large, a senior Belgian counterterrorism official said Monday.
Five Belgian nationals have been charged with participation in a terrorist organization in connection with last week’s raids, federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt said. The terror cell was on the brink of an attack and planned to target police officers, he said.
Meanwhile, police in Berlin, Brandenburg and Thuringen raided 13 properties linked to suspected radical Islamists, police said Tuesday.
The overnight raids are part of the investigation into two alleged Islamists who were arrested Friday, identified as Ismet D. and Emin F., Berlin police said. Both of them are accused of providing logistical aid to ISIS.
Those subject to the raids have not yet been accused of any crimes, but had contact with Ismet D. and Emin F. There are no indications that the group was preparing attacks in Germany.
Surveillance video
Coulibaly killed four hostages at the kosher grocery store in Paris before police killed him. He’s also believed to have killed a policewoman a day earlier.
New surveillance video obtained by CNN shows Coulibaly and Hayat Boumedienne — believed currently to be in Syria — outside a Jewish institution in Paris.
The video was recorded at the end of August or beginning of September and stored on a security camera.
A source familiar with the ongoing investigation into the Paris attacks says the nature of the video makes it clear that the couple were carrying out surveillance of possible targets for months before Coulibaly launched his attack against the kosher supermarket.