French police uncover ISIS sleeper cell in terrorist plot to attack Disneyland Paris, Champs-Elysées on December 1st

French security forces said ISIS planned for a massive attack on Disneyland Paris on December 1st
It's been little over a year since the horrific Paris terrorist attacks in November of 2015 where 130 people were gunned down in coordinated attacks by ISIS terrorists throughout the City of Lights.

Another ISIS sleeper cell was set up in France to undertake yet another series of
attacks in France over the holiday season
Now, another suspected ISIS terrorist sleeper cell, linked to original ISIS terrorist cell from the Paris attacks, has been raided by French police in an 8-month long investigation resulting in the arrest of five of seven people last weekend from Marseille and Strasbourg, France. 

Two suspects were later released, but five of the suspects that are being held in custody have had their detentions extended for six days, which is permissible under French law in cases of imminent threat of attack or if the investigation is part of an international cooperative effort.

Disneyland Paris and a Christmas market on the Champs Elysées were among the potential targets scouted by the alleged terrorist sleeper cell—along with headquarters of the DGSI, France's intelligence service, and the headquarters of the Police Judiciare—for a planned series of coordinated attacks on December 1, which is eerily reminiscent of the series of coordinated attacks from last November.


The suspects, ages 26 to 37 years of age, are of French, Moroccan and Afghan origin, and one is a resident of Portugal.

Is the threat to Disneyland Paris over after the arrests? That is not a certainty as
the Belgium airport attacks last March has shown after the initial arrests
Paris prosecutor François Molins identified the suspects arrested in Strasbourg, France, as Yassine B., 37, a school employee, Hicaham M, 37, a warehouse worker, Sami B., 36, a French-Tunisian father of three who also worked in a grocery store, and Zacaria M., 35 a French-Moroccan whose employment status was withheld.

The four men were said to be longtime friends who saw "each other on a regular basis." They were in contact with a fifth man in Marseille, France.

The fifth man in question, Hicham E., a 26-year-old Moroccan citizen who immigrated to Portugal in 2013, had taken multiple trips, back and forth, within Europe using a fake passport.

The suspects had been under surveillance since June 14 when security forces arrested another ISIS sleeper cell of seven men that planned on attacking the Euro 2016 soccer tournament over the summer.


Two of the suspects currently in custody, Hicham M. and Yassine B., are said to have trained and fought in Syria in March of 2015 under the guise of visiting Cyprus, and were coordinated by a Syrian handler from ISIS. A third suspect in custody, Hicham E., was turned away in the summer of 2015 when he tried to enter Turkey.

Paris prosecutor François Molins on Friday delivering a statement about the
investigation of a foiled terrorist plot in France
During the raid, authorities had confiscated a cache of weapons, including handguns, a submachine gun, money, and jihadist literature. One of the suspects was found with a letter of allegiance to the Islamic State.

A USB thumb drive found at Yassine B.'s house, contained instructions on the "delivery of a sum of money," as well as GPS coordinates and instructions on how to obtain more weapons and ammunition.

France has remained in a state of emergency since November 13 of last year, when the Paris attacks began and continued well after a lone-wolf self-proclaimed terrorist drove a truck through a crowd in Nice, killing 86 people in July.


Disney World's busy shopping district, Disney Springs, in Florida was scouted as a potential target in April by the Orlando nightclub shooter Omar Mateen, before he targeted the Pulse Nightclub in June, killing 53 people.


Last January, French police also arrested a man carrying a suitcase containing two handguns attempting to check into the New York Hotel at Disneyland Paris, although that incident was not believed to be terrorist-related.

Isn'e Disney doing enough to safeguard its guests and employees in the face of
real terrorist threats to its theme parks and resorts, or are they burying their heads
in the sand?
In response to recent security threats, the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California is extending its security perimeter by moving its security bag checks to include its Downtown Disney shopping district after many close call incidents with armed gunmen throughout various Disney theme parks, including an armed gunman who got by bag screeners inside Disneyland's entry plaza with a loaded semiautomatic pistol and ammunition from July of 2015.

Business at Disneyland Paris has been reeling in the wake of terrorist threats in Europe. Attendance has been down since the Paris attacks, and the resort has recorded record losses for the year.

Business is so bad at Disneyland Paris that the Walt Disney Company has decided to waive its management fees and royalties that it collects from the resort through mid-2018.


Certainly, the news of another credible terrorist threat to yet another Disney theme park isn't good for business for any of the Disney theme parks or resorts around the world.

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