Anti-terrorism judges have charged the five suspects and remanded them in custody.
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French law enforcement has come under criticism for what some say was an inadequate police presence during Bastille Day celebrations on July 14, when a man identified by police as Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove a auto through a crowd of revelers. Only Ramzi A. had a criminal record for robbery and drug offences.
Ramzi, Chokri and Oualid were charged with being accomplices to murder by a terror group.
Joggers, cyclists and sun-seekers are back on Nice’s famed Riviera coast, a further sign of normal life returning on the Promenade des Anglais where dozens were killed in last week’s Bastille Day truck attack.
In the aftermath of the Nice attack, the Islamic State declared Bouhlel a “soldier” of the militant group’s self-proclaimed caliphate, although French authorities said their investigation has not found any direct links between Bouhlel and the Islamic State.
The detained suspects are four men two Franco-Tunisians, a Tunisian and an Albanian and one woman of dual French-Albanian nationality, Molins said.
An analysis of cell phone and computer content – including a photo of last year’s Bastille Day fireworks event focused on the crowd – showed Bouhlel had been planning the assault since at least 2015, Moins said.
A source in the Paris prosecutor’s office, which is leading the investigation into the attack, told AFP the police aimed to prevent dissemination of the “profoundly shocking” images.
An internal police investigation into the security measures has been launched, and President Francois Hollande is holding a special security meeting Friday.
Meanwhile, authorities in Nice have declined a request from French counter-extremism police to wipe surveillance footage of the truck attack, as the government and police faces criticism over the amount of security present at the promenade before the attack took place.
“When there is a tragedy, or in this case an attack with many dead. there will naturally be questions”, Hollande said during a visit to Dublin, adding that the conclusions of the police probe would be announced next week. He also fired an automatic pistol at police before they shot and killed him.
On April 4 – months before the massacre – one suspected accomplice, Chokri C., sent Bouhlel a Facebook message, writing: “Load the truck with 2000 tons of iron, cut the brake and I’ll watch you”. Pictures of Oualid apparently taken in the truck used in the attack were also found on Bouhlel’s phone.
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One of the men walked around the target area with Bouhlel before the attack, and another stuck around afterward, recording video and taking photographs of the investigators at work, Molins said.
