FILE PHOTO: A member of the regional intervention and security team (ERIS13) stands in front of the Aix-Luynes Penitentiary Center in Aix-en-Provence, France, April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Manon Cruz/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - Suspects have been arrested in connection with attacks carried out against French prisons earlier this month, said French justice minister Gerald Darmanin on Monday, without detailing the number detained.
"I would like to thank the magistrates and law enforcement officials who arrested early this morning those presumed to have been behind the attacks against our prisons and prison staff," wrote Darmanin on X.
At least six French prisons came under attack. An AK-47 automatic rifle was fired at the entrance of Toulon prison, while vehicles were set on fire outside jails in Villepinte, Nanterre, Aix-Luynes, and Valence.
French interior minister Bruno Retailleau said drug-traffickers were most likely responsible for the attacks.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
