The "Cannes-Torcy cell" was a jihadist network in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

uncovered in 2012. Eighteen members of the cell were sentenced from one to 28 years in prison in 2017.

Jewish grocery store attack

Two members of the cell were first arrested after a grenade attack against a Jewish grocery store in

Sarcelles Sarcelles () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the arrondissement of Sarcelles. In the south of the commun ...

in September 2012 that injured one person. Police later found bomb-making equipment in a storage unit rented by Jeremie Bailly, the alleged leader of the group. Another of the suspects, Muslim convert Jérémie Louis-Sidney, was killed in a police shootout on 6 October 2012 while resisting arrest. Three days after the shootout, police found "bags of potassium nitrate, sulfur, saltpeter, headlight bulbs and a pressure cooker" belonging to Louis-Sidney in an underground car park in Torcy, a suburb east of Paris. According to French officials, two other alleged members of the cell, French-Algerian Ibrahim Boudina and French-Tunisian Abdelkader Tliba, were found to have set off for Syria just days after the attack. According to the officials, after first having joined the

Al-Nusra Front Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...

, they later joined the

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...

(ISIL). Having returned from Syria, Boudina was arrested on 11 February 2014 in

Mandelieu-la-Napoule Mandelieu-la-Napoule (; oc, Mandaluec la Napola; locally spelled Mandelieu-La Napoule) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, just to the s ...

near Cannes. Police thereafter found "a handgun, bomb-making instructions, and three soda cans filled with the high-explosive compound TATP" in a storage closet belonging to Boudina.

Trial

Twenty members of the network were tried by a special anti-terror tribunal in Paris in 2017. Of the twenty, ten were in prison, seven on conditional release, and three others at large, with two thought to be in Syria. The cell was accused of plotting attacks against both military and civilian targets, and of seeking to join jihadists in Syria. During the trial, the cell was described as "the missing link" between

Mohammed Merah Mohammed Merah (10 October 1988 – 22 March 2012) was a French jihadist who admitted to killing seven people, including three children, in several shootings in southwestern France in March 2012. He was killed following a police siege and st ...

, the perpetrator of the March 2012

Toulouse and Montauban shootings The Toulouse and Montauban shootings were a series of Islamist terrorist attacksFoley, Frank. ''Countering Terrorism in Britain and France''. Cambridge University Press, 2013. p. 38. committed by Mohammed Merah in March 2012 in the cities of M ...

, and the

Brussels ISIL terror cell The Brussels ISIL terror cell were a group accused of involvement in large-scale terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015 (130 killed) and Brussels in early 2016 (32 killed), as well as other attacks against European targets. The terror cel ...

responsible for the

November 2015 Paris attacks The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bombers ...

. The court noted the diverse backgrounds of the twenty accusees, some being from affluent families and originating in Algeria, Laos and France. In June 2017, eighteen members of the cell were sentenced from one to 28 years in prison, while two were acquitted. The longest sentence was given to Jeremy Bailly, who was found guilty of throwing the grenade against the Jewish grocery store. The driver of the grenade attack received an 18-year prison sentence. Some others were convicted for assisting in the attack, while others were convicted for travelling to join jihadists in Syria. Among the latter was Ibrahim Boudina, who was also accused of "returning to commit an attack" on the

Cote d'Azur The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

. Abdelkader Tliba was tried ''in absentia'', as he was still thought to be in Syria and to "have risen within the ranks of the Islamic State group." Seven of the convicted had connections to the Torcy mosque which was closed on 11 April 2017 for inciting

jihadism Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...

References

{{Islamic terrorism in Europe Antisemitic attacks and incidents in Europe Antisemitism in France Counterterrorism in France Islam and antisemitism Islamic terrorism in France Islamic terrorist incidents in 2012 September 2012 events in France Terrorist incidents in France in 2012