France Is Tracking 400 People Believed To Be In Terror Sleeper Cells

France is tracking hundreds of people believed to belong to possible sleeper cells for terror organizations like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group, the country’s top security official said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve laid out what has become an increasingly urgent question for European intelligence services: How to trace the moment when someone transforms from a disgruntled criminal or a disaffected citizen into a terrorist, and how to block those first steps toward radicalization.

“Four hundred targets have been identified by our intelligence services that are more or less sleeper cells, affiliated or in relation with al-Qaida-type organizations, that can strike like the Kouachi brothers,” Cazeneuve said in an interview late Monday.

“Everyone agrees now that legislation that prevents the diffusion of child pornography is protecting citizens from crime. It is the same for terrorism,” Cazeneuve said. “Calling for anti-Semitism, calling for crimes, calling for murder, calling for the killing of Jews or journalists — that’s not about freedom of expression. That is a criminal act.”

___

Jan M. Olsen and Karl Ritter contributed from Copenhagen, Denmark.

The Huffington Post