French officials unveiled sweeping new anti-terror measures, funneling 425 million euros ($490 million) towards counter-terrorism efforts, weapons, and intelligence staffing.
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced the measures on Wednesday morning, promising better weapons and protection for police, an improved database for tracking suspected extremists, and 2,600 new counter-terrorism positions.
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The security measures will make it easier for the French to track the 3,000 suspected radicals Valls said the country needs to monitor through phone tapping and online and social media surveillance.
“The threat remains at a very high level,” Valls said. “The number of radicalized individuals doesn’t stop growing.”
The additional resources will aid authorities in the ongoing manhunt for accomplices of the three men who killed 17 during three days of mayhem in Paris earlier this month.
On Tuesday, police made their latest arrest, charging four suspects for associating with “terrorist activity” and “procuring arms,” but they have not been charged with plotting the attacks.
Those men join eight others who have been arrested since France’s worst attack in decades, which began when two gunmen stormed the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo two weeks ago. In a related incident, a third gunman later shot a police officer and killed four hostages in a kosher supermarket. In all, 20 were killed, including the three gunmen.
The Charlie Hebdo shooters, Chérif and Säid Kouachi, had been deemed low-risk by authorities and surveillance on them ended in July. The gunman in the other shootings, Amedy Coulibaly, had been convicted of a previous terror charge, but released early. The oversight in preventing the attacks prompted calls for enhanced anti-terror measures and additional counter-terrorism resources.
Jane Timm