Two Egyptian brothers suspected of preparing for a toxic attack were arrested, but one of the brothers was later released.
Minister Gerard Coulomb announced Friday that a new attempted attack in France and the arrest of two brothers of Egyptian origin had been thwarted.
"Two young men of Egyptian origin were preparing to carry out an improvised explosive device or poisonous ricin," Colomb told AFP. A week after a knife attack killed five people in Paris.
He said they had received special lessons on how to make venom using ricin. He added: "The agents of the French intelligence intercepted contacts to the men on the application of Telegram for encrypted text messages."
The attack took place on Saturday (May 12th) in the heart of the French capital, when a young man of Chechen origin, a French citizen (born in 1997), attacked a number of pedestrians near the Opera House.
He was known to have been known by the intelligence services, but he had no case law, but was listed on the intelligence record.
The attack took place in the heart of Paris in an area frequented by tourists for its many restaurants, cafés, shops and Paris Opera House.
France has been on high alert after being subjected to a series of attacks launched or inspired by the perpetrators, and those attacks have killed more than 240 people since 2015.