A far-right extremist has been arrested in France on suspicions he was preparing attacks during the Paris Olympics that open next week, a security source told AFP Wednesday on condition of anonymity.
The 18-year-old suspected neo-Nazi was the administrator of a group on the Telegram phone application called "French Aryan division" where he made threats against the July 26-August 11 Paris Olympics, the source said.
He was detained in the eastern Bas-Rhin region, which includes the city of Strasbourg, and was being questioned by anti-terror police.
French security services are on high alert ahead of the Paris Games when around 10 million visitors and 10,000 athletes are expected in the French capital.
In May, they arrested a Chechen teenager suspected of plotting an "Islamist-inspired" attack on an Olympics football game in the southeastern city of Saint-Etienne.
Le Parisien newspaper, which first reported the arrest of the far-right suspect on Wednesday, said the young man had followers on Telegram who were prepared to mount attacks and had threatened violence against a Paris-based drag queen who took part in the Olympic torch rally at the weekend.
