French counterintelligence officials Monday arrested three men who were allegedly planning a chemical attack on Paris, the New York Times reported today.

The suspects, who are thought to have spent time in Afghanistan and Chechnya, were arrested in a public housing project in a Paris suburb and were apparently found with chemicals, $5,000 in cash, a computer and Islamic propaganda, according to officials.

French anti-terrorist judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere — who has broad powers to investigate and detain suspects — ordered the arrests.  The men are suspected of having sympathies for radical militant Islamic causes, the Times reported (Associated Press/New York Times, Dec. 17).

The suspects — an Algerian, a Franco-Algerian and a Moroccan — had planned an attack on Christmas, and were arrested with components necessary to build chemical weapons, News24 reported.  Officials seized liquid and powder chemicals as well as canisters to mix the substances (News24.com, Dec. 17)

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