PLOT AGAINST FRANCE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 18 November 1937, Page 9

PLOT AGAINST FRANCE

a. umivu SECRET ORGANISATION FOUR MEMBERS ARRESTED SENSATIONAL REVELATIONS EXPECTED (limit'd Press Association —By Electric To 1 0{t ra p li—Copy ri git 1 1 ' (Received 18th November. 10.10 a.m.) ' PARIS, 17th November. After the discovery of further con- ! Crete arsenals containing rifles, revol- ’ I vers, machine-guns, and grenades, the ! Paris police arrested four members ol | the secret organisation known as the Cagoulards (Hooded Men), including I one of aristocratic birth. ! The police arc starting a campaign ; throughout France to clean up the I Cagoulards’ secret arsenals. After the arrests the police report that sensational revelation, are expected. “L’Oeuvre” says the organisation is composed of thousands of terrorists called secret revolutionary militiamen, I ivho arc preparing a vast armed plot ! against the Republic. | In September police searched the 1 Paris headquarters of the Cagoulards j and found a large number of machinei guns, hand grenades, and other wea- ! pons. The Ministry of the Interior | staled that the Cagoulards were at- ! tached to parties of the Right and had j been under surveillance by secret ! police for some time. Four arrests ! were made and more were expected. NATION-WIDE INVESTIGATION FURTHER SEIZURE OF ARMS ‘•HIGH COMMAND” OPERATING (Received 18th November, 12.25 p.m.) PARIS, 17th November. The discovery of enough cheddite to blow up an entire district, the seizure of huge arms stores, and the revelation that a "high command” is operating behind an elaborated system of sliding walls and secret rooms marked today's nation-wide investigation of the Cagoulards searches, which are proceeding. Further arrests arc expected. Inquiries point to a nation-wide plot against the Republic. Police were searching a suspected house at night when a lorry load of arms drove up. The house was found to contain 100,000 cartridges, 500 ma-chine-guns, many sub-machinc-guns. several cases of hand grenades, and a large quantity of cheddite. The police also found a sliding wall behind which was a fortress-like concrete chamber equipped with telephones, loudspeakers and microphones, obviously the headquarters. Guards at several of the Ministries in Paris were reinforced, believed to be the result of the Cagoulard dis- j coveries. i