Car loaded with gas cylinders found near Notre Dame

A car containing several gas cylinders was discovered close to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris over the weekend. Its owner, who is now in custody, is on an intelligence services watchlist, police said Wednesday.

An armed French soldier patrols in front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, in this picture taken on December 24, 2015, as a security alert continued following the November shooting attacks in the French capital. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer/Files

One official said the car’s hazard lights were flashing when it was found Saturday night and that it contained several gas cylinders, one of them empty and placed on the front passenger seat.

There was no detonating device present, the police said.

The daily newspaper, Le Parisien reported that six people had been detained in connection with the suspect vehicle.

Those arrested included a 34-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman who have been in the custody of anti-terror officials for the past two days.

Documents with writing in Arabic were also found in the car.
More than 200 people have been killed in terror attacks over the past year-and-a-half in France.

France remains on maximum alert after calls by the Islamic State group for followers to attack the country, which is bombing the militant group's bases in Iraq and Syria