Paris report: TERRORIST GROUP UNDER ARREST

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33418, 27 December 1973, Page 9

Paris report: TERRORIST GROUP UNDER ARREST

(.X.Z.P A -Reuter—Copyright l PARIS, December 26. French security agents have arrested 13 members of a Palestinian commando group based in the Paris suburbs and composed mainly of Turkish nationals, according to the daily newspaper, "Le Figaro."

A spokesman for the Ministry of the Interior has declined to comment |on the report, which Isays that the 13 men were arrested on December 20 and charged on Christmas Eve.

Equipment found at the group’s base in the suburbs included 441 b of explosives, (weapons, hollowed-out books in which explosive charges (could be placed, and instructions for different types of i terrorist actions

| According to “Le Figaro.” I which is known to maintain good contacts among senior members of the French .police, the group may have ■been organised to carry out operations in different parts of Europe, and particularly in 'West Germany. Ten of the 13 arrested are Turkish nationals sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and members of the Turkish Popular Liberation Front. Another man is a Palestinian, and the other two are of unknown nationality.

The Turks were all arrested in the Paris suburbs, and the other three men were de■tained at the French-Italian border while entering France with concealed weapons. The French counter-espion-:age service, D.S.T., had been on the case since November, the newspaper says. Over the last two years there have been a number of .incidents in France involving Palestinian groups trying to I establish themselves in the | country. Two members of the Black September organisation were deported last October | after serving part of a sen-

dence for bringing explosives into France from Italy. Earlier this year, a Jerusa-lem-born Arab and a British |woman doctor were expelled (after being questioned during (an inquiry into Black Septemiber activities. Paris has also been the scene of the assassination of | three men closely connected with the Palestinian cause, including an official of the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Police sources have | said unofficially that the\ suspect the Israeli Secret Service to have been involved in the three killings.