LOC23:17
20:17 GMT
PARIS, Jan 23 (KUNA) -- French police arrested two people on Thursday, suspected of terrorist intentions after the discovery of home-made explosives on site, media and judicial sources said.
Those arrested, a man and a woman, were detained in a raid in the south-eastern city of Epinal, in the Voges region, on-line newspaper "Mediapart" said, quoting judicial and other sources.
The 49-year-old man taken into custody was on a special "radicalisation" list but also had a criminal past for drug offences and had served time in jail.
But he was particularly under police watch for his contacts with known radical Islamist groups in the past decade.
"Mediapart" indicated, citing France's AFP News Agency, that an anti-terrorist judicial investigation has been opened into the couple for "association with a terrorist enterprise" and "possession and manufacture of explosives in relation with a terrorist enterprise."
France has been on high alert for terrorist plots wince January 2015, when the first major attack took place here, carried out by groups and individuals claiming allegiance to so-called Islamic State terrorist organisation.
Since that date, almost 260 people have been killed here in a series of bombings, shootings, vehicle rammings and stabbings, and hundreds more have been injured, many badly.
As part of the security uptick since 2015, between 7,000 and 10,000 troops are regularly deployed to boost police protection of potential targets, including important buildings, transport hubs, religious sites and major tourist attractions. (end)
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