In a significant development in the investigation of recent sabotage attacks on France's national rail network, an ultra-left activist was arrested at an SNCF facility in Oissel, northern France.
The arrest took place on Sunday and is linked to the attacks that severely disrupted train services just before the Olympic Games' opening ceremony. Authorities discovered that the detained individual had access keys to technical areas of SNCF, specialized tools, and literature connected to ultra-left ideologies.
Moreover, police have reported that fiber optic networks across six regions of France were subjected to sabotage, although Paris was spared from these disruptions. The exact nature of the connection between these telecommunications sabotage incidents and the rail network attacks is still under investigation.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has indicated that there is a strong possibility that far-left extremists were behind the predawn attacks on the rail network, which included assaults on signal substations and crucial cables, causing extensive travel chaos just hours before the Olympics commenced.
* The Times of Israel contributed to this article.