France suspects international intelligence over pigs heads left outdoors mosques

[ad_1] Hugh Schofield Paris correspondent

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/dbcd/live/3dca14a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images Faithfuls leave and arrive at the Mosque Islah, in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris, where pigs' heads were earlier discovered at the entrance of the building. " class="sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi"/> Getty Photographs Two international nationals are suspected of leaving the pigs' heads outdoors mosques in and round Paris

French police suspect that individuals who put pigs' heads outdoors Paris mosques on Monday night time had been performing underneath orders from a international intelligence service, in all probability Russian.

The heads had been discovered on Tuesday morning outdoors 9 mosques in central Paris and surrounding suburbs, prompting a wave of shock and condemnation.

However investigators have now stated the 2 folks concerned drove a Serb-registered automobile, used a Croatian cellular phone, and crossed into Belgium a number of hours later.

The incident has placing similarities with different current provocations – notably the daubing of Stars of David on Paris partitions in October 2023, and the portray of crimson palms on the town's Holocaust memorial in Might 2024.

Police recognized a Moldovan connection within the first case, and within the second 4 Bulgarians are as a result of stand trial in October.

The prosecutor within the crimson palms affair stated it appeared "to be an try to destabilise France orchestrated by Russian intelligence".

Russia and Iran have each been named by French intelligence as international locations liable to impress dissension in France by way of "soiled tips".

Police investigating the most recent affair advised media that they had been approached by a Normandy farmer who stated he had bought "about 10" pigs' heads to 2 males driving a Serbian-registered automobile.

The identical automobile was seen in CCTV footage within the Oberkampf area of jap Paris on Monday night, after which once more close to a number of the mosques.

Police stated tracing of the Croatian cell phone confirmed the automobile crossing into Belgium early on Tuesday morning.

Video footage obtained by information channel BFMTV exhibits a person in a white T-shirt, cap and surgical masks inserting a pig's head outdoors a mosque within the south-western suburb of Malakoff. He's seen taking {a photograph} earlier than leaving, carrying a rucksack.

At roughly the identical time one other particular person is seen doing the identical at a mosque within the jap suburb of Montreuil.

Within the Stars of David affair, the perpetrators had been additionally seen taking images of their work – an act interpreted as a manner of proving that they had completed what they had been paid to do, but in addition to kind the premise of a subsequent social media marketing campaign.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/0453/live/ebc989a0-8ef9-11f0-ad1d-477615c292d0.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Men sit down to pray at a mosque in Paris" class="sc-86c96223-0 fHZDyi"/> Getty Photographs Mosque Islah, in Montreuil, on the outskirts of Paris, was one of many mosques affected by the affect

Two different incidents up to now yr have investigators.

In June 2024 stencilled photos of coffins, some with wings, had been discovered on Paris partitions, with tags saying "Cease the deaths now" and "Mirages [jets] for Ukraine."

Across the identical time 5 precise coffins draped in French flags had been deposited in entrance of the Eiffel Tower, with a label studying "French useless in Ukraine".

In each circumstances, French police have recognized suspects of Moldovan origin.

An intelligence report hooked up to the prosecution's file within the crimson palms case says that Russian intelligence has a method aimed toward "distributing false data and dividing French opinion or sharpening inside tensions".

They do that by "utilizing proxies – that's to say individuals who don't work instantly for the [Russian] intelligence providers however who perform advert hoc duties paid for by intermediaries, largely primarily based in international locations neighbouring Russia".

French intelligence company Viginum, which displays social media, stated it had proof of social media accounts linked to Russia spreading experiences of the crimson palms affair, utilizing 1000's of faux accounts on X.