Kalashnikov and handgun found in stolen car near Sarcelles synagogue; French anti-terror prosecutors open investigation

The discovery

Police in Sarcelles, a northern Paris suburb known for its large Jewish community, located a suspicious vehicle on Saturday evening following a tip-off from the DGSI, France's domestic intelligence agency. The DGSI had been informed of a possible Islamist terrorist attack targeting a synagogue in the town, potentially involving a Toyota vehicle. Officers found the car, which turned out to be stolen and had its licence plates partially detached, parked near a cinema and restaurants, roughly 500 metres from one of the city's several synagogues.

The search of the vehicle led to the seizure of a Kalashnikov-type submachine gun with several magazines and a Beretta pistol, also equipped with a magazine.

Both the assault rifle and the handgun were loaded. Bomb disposal experts who examined the car found no explosives. A security cordon was established and around 300 people were evacuated from the adjacent cinema and eateries. One witness described the scene to Franceinfo: people were guided calmly to the exits by staff before the employees themselves were evacuated.

Official response

The French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (Pnat) announced on Sunday that it had opened an investigation on charges of forming a terrorist criminal organisation with a view to preparing crimes involving attacks on persons, and the transport, possession and acquisition of category A and B weapons in connection with a terrorist enterprise. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez appeared on BFMTV on Sunday to address the incident.

We do not yet know the motives. The individuals have not yet been identified.

Nunez added that three attacks have been foiled in France since the start of the year, including a knife attack on a gendarme beneath the Arc de Triomphe in February during the ceremony to rekindle the flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. A police source told AFP that investigators are pursuing all leads and that surveillance of sensitive sites has been reinforced in Sarcelles and the wider Val-d'Oise department.

Community reaction

The incident has unsettled residents of Sarcelles, sometimes nicknamed "the little Jerusalem" for its significant Jewish population. One community member told Franceinfo that the terrorist risk is elevated and the discovery did not surprise her, though she found it worrying and praised the authorities' rapid response. At midday on Sunday, before the Pnat announced its investigation, Moise Kahloun, president of the Jewish community of Sarcelles, posted on Facebook that the evacuation concerned the cinema, located more than a kilometre from the synagogue, and that at that stage nothing allowed him to affirm that the Jewish community had been targeted.

At this stage of the investigation, nothing allows us to affirm that the Jewish community was targeted.

Residents questioned on Sunday afternoon still struggled to believe what had happened, with one man telling Franceinfo it was astonishing to find such weapons in a public car park.

Broader context

France is home to Europe's largest Jewish population and has recorded a sharp rise in antisemitic acts since the Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023. Last year, 1,320 antisemitic acts were recorded in the country, a tripling over three years. These acts made up more than half of all anti-religious incidents despite Jews representing less than 1% of the French population. On Sunday, President Emmanuel Macron criticised the resurgent "old demons" of antisemitism during a speech at the inauguration of a statue honouring Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whose wrongful 19th-century treason conviction exposed deep anti-Jewish prejudice in France. Sunday marked 120 years since Dreyfus's exoneration by France's highest court.