French police shut down mosque on extremism charges

Paris, Dec 2: French police on Wednesday shut down a mosque in Lagny-sur-Marne, east Paris, the third such action in a week as part of a crackdown on suspected extremists in the wake of the November 13 terror attacks, Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced.

Security forces raided the mosque early on Wednesday and found a gun -- whose owner was placed in custody -- in addition to documents related to terrorism, the minister said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

Following the search operation, nine people have been put under house arrest and 22 others were banned from leaving the country, he added.

After the recent terror attacks in Paris, police have so far raided 2,235 homes and buildings, taken 232 people into custody and seized 334 weapons, 34 of them war-grade, according to the French minister.

"In 15 days, we have seized one-third of the quantity of war-grade weapons that are normally seized in a year," Cazeneuve said.

French President Francois Hollande declared a state of emergency for three months in the wake of the Paris attacks.

IANS