Switzerland arrest two over suspicion of transporting explosives

Swiss authorities said Saturday that two people of Syrian origin were arrested in Geneva on suspicion of transporting "explosives and toxic gases" as part of a probe into suspected attackers a month after the Paris attacks.

The two suspects arrested Friday were accused of the "manufacture, concealment and transport of explosives and toxic gases,” the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

They are also under suspicion of violating Swiss law prohibiting "groups like Al-Qaeda, Islamic State and similar organizations,” it added.

Authorities in Geneva said that the search for people suspected of possibly planning future attacks was being conducted "in the context of the investigation following the Paris attacks.”

But it was not clear if there was any direct link between those detained and the perpetrators of the massacre of 130 people on Nov. 13 in the French capital.

Multiple sources, who requested anonymity, said there did not appear to be a direct link.

Several Swiss media reported Friday that two people had been arrested in the Geneva region and that traces of explosives were found in their car but the authorities only confirmed the development on Saturday.

The office of the Swiss attorney general said Saturday the pair was arrested in conjunction with "a second criminal proceeding concerning a terror alert in the area of greater Geneva."

The authorities announced a first probe relating to a "terrorist threat in the Geneva region" on Thursday, prompting the region to raise its alert level to three on a five-point scale.

Armed police were deployed at sensitive locations across the city, which borders France and is home to the U.N.'s European headquarters.

The Le Temps daily on Friday cited an unnamed source close to the case as saying the Swiss had received a tip-off from U.S. intelligence about a cell operating in Geneva.

Pictures of four individuals suspected of links to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) — which claimed the Paris attacks — were published by media across the country.

Al Jazeera and Agence France-Presse