Three men handed 24-year jail terms over France attack plot

PARIS: Three men were sentenced to 24 years in jail on Friday over a massive weapons haul by police just weeks ahead of the Euro 2016 football tournament.

Investigators have never determined where the weapons were going to be used, but the French prime minister at the time they were found, Manuel Valls, said the Euros in France that summer were the target.

On Friday, a court in Paris sentenced radical Islamist Reda Kriket to 24 years in jail because the AK-47 assault rifles, handguns, explosives and bomb-making equipment were found in his rented apartment in a Paris suburb.

It said he should serve at least two thirds of the term behind bars. Kriket, a 39-year-old serial offender with a long criminal record, had refused to accept French law during the trial but denied intending to launch an attack.

Also on trial was Anis Bahri, a 37-year-old self-described jihadist who was arrested by Dutch police in Rotterdam shortly after Kriket was detained, as well as Algerian national Abderrahmane Ameuroud.