French authorities foil possible ricin plot by Egyptian-born student

France said on Friday it hadthwarted a possible ricin attack after intercepting messages onthe secure social media platform Telegram and a source in theParis prosecutor's office said an Egyptian-born student was inpolice custody.

Police raided the student's residence in the capital'sdensely populated 18th arrondissement on May 11 on suspicion he had links to criminal networks, the source said. Four days later, he was placed under formal investigation and denied bail.

The man, identified as Mohamed M., was handed preliminary charges of association with a terrorist enterprise, according to a judicial official.

A second man who was arrested was later released. InteriorMinister Grard Collomb said the two were brothers, but theofficial in the prosecutor's office said this was not the case.

A police official said both men were born in 1998, and at least one was a college student.

The officials weren'tauthorized to be publicly named discussing the investigation.

French interior minister gives details on thwarted terror plot

6 years ago

Duration 0:48

'They had tutorials which showed how to build ricin-based poisons,' Grard Collomb says

"We're following a number of people on [social media] networks. These two happened to be on Telegram," Collomb toldBFM TV. "We were able to trace them, identify this plot and stopthem."

Collomb said the student possessed "instructions on how tobuild ricin-based poisons."

Ricinis a highly toxic poison found in castor beans. It can be inhaled or ingested and can lead to death.

A week ago, a Chechen-born Frenchman went on a stabbingrampage in central Paris, killing one person before police shothim dead, an attack that again exposed the difficulty European intelligence services face in keeping track of suspectedextremists.

More than 240 people have been killed on French soil overthe past three years in attacks launched by Islamist militants or individuals inspired by groups like Islamic State.