France Charges Two Moroccan-Italian Brothers in Terror Plot

Marrakech – French anti-terrorism authorities have charged and jailed two brothers suspected of plotting a deadly “antisemitic” attack on French soil after their arrest near a prison in northern France earlier this month.

Elyasse H., aged 22, an engineering student, and his younger brother Moad H., aged 20, who is unemployed, were formally charged on Sunday, March 15, by an anti-terrorism judge. They face counts of criminal terrorist conspiracy, weapon acquisition, and illegal possession of firearms. Both were remanded in custody.

The brothers, who hold Italian and Moroccan nationality, were arrested at dawn on Tuesday, March 10, by police from the Saint-Omer precinct in the Pas-de-Calais department. Officers had responded to reports of a drone flying over the Longuenesse penitentiary. They spotted the two men sitting in a parked car near the prison.

During initial questioning, the brothers acknowledged they had driven a minor to the area to carry out a paid drone delivery to inmates inside the facility. But what police found inside the vehicle pointed to something far more serious.

Officers discovered a loaded semi-automatic handgun with 9mm ammunition, a bottle of hydrochloric acid, aluminum – materials that can be used to build explosive devices – and an Islamic State flag draped over the driver’s headrest.

The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, known by its French acronym PNAT, immediately took over the case. In custody, the brothers admitted they had been nurturing a terrorist plot for several weeks.

They told investigators they had turned to planning an attack in France after concluding it was impossible to travel to Syria or Palestine for jihad. They said they “aspired to martyrdom,” according to the PNAT.

The prosecutor described their plot as bearing a clearly “deadly and antisemitic” character, though the specific target was not disclosed.

Investigators determined that the brothers had been radicalized over the past two years, with a sharp escalation in the days before their arrest. Digital devices seized during the investigation revealed months of heavy consumption of jihadist propaganda. Moad H. had recorded a video pledging allegiance to the Islamic State on March 7, just three days before the arrest.

The PNAT indicated Moad appeared to be in contact with several radicalized individuals, including people previously charged or convicted on terrorism-related offenses. Other photos and videos showed both brothers posing in combat gear with firearms and knives, their index fingers raised toward the sky in front of the IS flag.

Encrypted messages exchanged in the days and weeks before the arrest showed the pair actively seeking handguns and assault rifles. Prosecutors said these exchanges suggested a violent attack was imminent.

A search of the brothers’ home turned up more than €7,000 in cash. Their mother was found trying to conceal an 8mm firearm along with 30 rounds of 9mm ammunition and 50 cartridges before she was placed in custody. She was released on Saturday, but an investigation into obstruction of justice is ongoing.

The family arrived in France in 2017 after spending several years in Italy.

Five other individuals were also detained in connection with the drone incident in Longuenesse – four inmates and one minor who was piloting the device. However, prosecutors concluded no established link between the drone deliveries and the terror plot. The anti-terrorism office subsequently dropped that aspect of the case.

An information judiciaire – a formal judicial investigation – was opened on Sunday for criminal terrorist conspiracy and weapons charges ahead of the brothers’ indictment.