The Slatest

Weapons Used in French Attacks Reportedly Came From Outside Country

Police in Paris at a ceremony honoring the three officers killed in terror attacks last week.

Francois Mori/AFP/Getty

The AP reports that a “French police union representative” believes the guns used in last week’s French terror attacks came from outside the country:

Christophe Crepin, a French police union representative, said several people were being sought in relation to the “substantial” financing of the three gunmen. He said the weapons stockpile came from abroad and the amount spent plus the logistics of the attacks indicated an organized network. …

French police say as many as six members of the terrorist cell that carried out the Paris attacks may still be at large, including a man seen driving a car registered to the widow of one of the gunmen.

Bulgarian authorities, meanwhile, are detaining a friend of Chérif Kouachi, one of the brothers who attacked Charlie Hebdo:

A Frenchman arrested in Bulgaria on January 1 trying to cross into Turkey had links to one of the two brothers who carried out the Islamist attacks in Paris last week, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Fritz-Joly Joachin, 29, a French citizen of Haitian origin and a Muslim convert, “was in contact several times with one of the two brothers – Cherif Kouachi,” prosecutor Darina Slavova told AFP.

Joachin, who faces extradition to France, was originally detained on kidnapping charges; his wife said he planned to take their 3-year-old son to Syria to live in a violent jihadist community. He denies this allegation and says he is not responsible for the Kouachis’ actions.

For other Slate coverage of the Charlie Hebdo shootings, click here.