The suspected accomplices – four men and one woman – were in custody in Nice, Francois Molins told a news conference, and were indicted Thursday on various terrorism charges.
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Five suspects now in custody face preliminary terrorism charges for their alleged roles in helping the attacker in the attack.
The man responsible for mowing down 84 people in Nice planned the attack in advance, and was aided by a tight-knit team of associates, who helped him sketch out his plan, and acquired weapons for him.
Evidence suggests Bouhlel staked out the Bastille Day fireworks event in Nice in 2015 as he prepared for the attack in which he used a 19-ton truck to mow down 84 people who were leaving the 2016 Bastille Day fireworks show, Molins said.
The prosecutor said the investigation made “notable advances” since the Bastille Day attack by Bouhlel, a Tunisian who had been living legally in Nice for years.
In the aftermath of the attack in Nice, disagreements emerged over the scale of police and security force protection around the Promenade des Anglais at the time the attack took place.
They are 22-year-old Franco-Tunisian Ramzi A., 37-year-old Tunisian Chokri C., 40-year-old Tunisian Mohamed Oualid G., 38-year-old Albanian Artan H., and his wife Enkeledja Z. who holds both French and Albanian nationality.
People close to Lahouaiej-Bouhlel claimed he had shown no signs of radicalisation until very recently.
On May 26 previous year, he took a photo of an article about the drug Captagon, which Molins said was “used by some jihadists responsible for attacks”.
The Islamic State terrorist group previously claimed responsibility for the attack.
Prosecutors also say Bouhlel was plotting the rampage for many months.
Here is what we know so far about Bouhlel and his alleged accomplices. “They have brought in the soldiers of Allah to finish the job”.
Neither Bouhlel nor any of those arrested were known to French intelligence services, Molins said. The prosecutor said a text message from the same man found on a phone seized at Bouhlel’s said: “I’m not Charlie; I’m happy”.
In the wake of the attack, people around the world adopted the slogan “Je Suis Charlie” (I am Charlie) in solidarity with the victims at the satirical newspaper.
The Liberation newspaper reported on Thursday that only one police vehicle was stationed at the entrance to the Nice promenade on the night of the attack.
Five suspects, including a woman, have been charged Thursday in connection to the truck attack during Bastille Day in southern France last week.
The inquiry – to be headed by the police oversight body – was announced Thursday by Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve after mounting criticism of the measures taken to ensure the celebrations were secure. Bouhlel was killed by police.
However, many people interviewed by investigators described the father of three as “someone who did not practise the Muslim religion, ate pork, drank alcohol, took drugs and had an unbridled sexual activity”, Mr Molins said earlier this week. He said any police “shortcomings” will be carefully addressed but defended French authorities’ actions. “There is no place for polemics, there is only place for truth and transparency”, he said.
Authorities in Nice are protesting against a request from French anti-terror police to delete surveillance camera images of last week’s deadly truck attack, amid growing questions over the scale of the police presence at the time.
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In a related development, France’s lawmakers voted Wednesday to extend the state of emergency for another six months, continuing greater police search-and-arrest powers without advance clearance from judges. He expressed support for the Islamic State group’s territorial claims.
