PARIS — More than 2,000 raids have been carried out in France since the country declared a state of emergency after the terrorist massacres in Paris 18 days ago, the prime minister said Tuesday.
More than 300 weapons have been seized with 210 people taken into custody since the Nov. 13 attacks, Manuel Valls told radio station Europe 1.
Valls said the number of arrests indicated that the searches “are not due to chance” and “allow support for objective suspicions.”
He was speaking as police in Italy and Kosovo arrested four Kosovars suspected of being part of a jihadi cell that spread Islamist propaganda and made threats against Pope Francis, judicial officials told Reuters.
The four, three of whom were arrested in Italy and one in Kosovo, are all suspected of "condoning terrorism" and "inciting racial hatred," according to Italian police.
"They were threatening the pope, celebrating the recent attacks in Paris and threatening the former U.S. ambassador to Kosovo," said Carmine Esposito, a police chief in the northern Italian city of Brescia, where the investigation was based.
