France Arrests 8 Syria Jihad Suspects

Eight people were arrested in France on suspicion of ties to a network that recruits young people for jihad in Syria, said Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve. The suspects, who were caught in suburbs of Paris and Lyon, can be held by French authorities for as long as 96 hours without an official charge. “They are now in the hands of the police. It is a Syria issue,” said an official from the Paris prosecutor’s office. Cazeneuve said there are 161 current government investigations into terrorism with 547 people implicated in them. From those, 167 people have been arrested, 95 are being investigated, and 80 are in jail. France has launched a new crackdown against terrorism, including introducing new reforms to track travel into and out of the European Union, after the country suffered an attack at the hands of jihadis that left 17 people dead.