New weapons cache uncovered outside Paris

French police patrol as tourists walk by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Aug 20, 2016. PHOTO: REUTERS

EVRY, France (AFP) - French investigators announced on Friday (Nov 18) the discovery of a weapons cache in a Paris suburb, including grenade launchers, a rocket launcher, bulletproof vests, guns and ammunition.

The arsenal was discovered early on Friday in Evry, in an unlocked private parking garage inside a shopping centre near a commuter rail station, a source at the public prosecutor's office said.

"Nothing in this discovery leads us to believe there is a link to terrorism," the source added.

Last year's terrorist attacks in Paris, in which 130 people were killed, were carried out with weapons manufactured in Serbia.

France and Serbia last month launched a joint effort to crack down on arms smuggling from the Balkans region, which is still awash in weapons from its wars in the 1990s.

The prosecutors' office described the seized items as: one rocket launcher, bulletproof vests, Mauser (pistols), Kalashnikov cartridges and two grenade launchers".

An inquiry has been opened involving the judicial police as well as a special interregional unit focused on organised crime.

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