French authorities stumbled upon a suspected bomb-making laboratory inside an empty apartment near Paris on Wednesday — thanks to a tip from a curious handyman, officials said.
The worker had been on a job inside a building in Villejuif when he peeked into the empty residence and noticed some “suspect items,” according to police.
Sources told the Agence France-Presse that the man quickly alerted cops, prompting them to search the apartment.
Upon entering, officers found gas canisters, electric wiring and chemicals — which could be used to make homemade TATP explosives, the Islamic State’s bomb of choice.
Sources said the cops discovered papers written in Arabic, as well.
The handyman’s tip ultimately led to two arrests, with authorities weighing charges of “criminal terrorist association” and “possession, transportation and production of explosive substances in relation with a terrorist action by an organized gang.”
The suspects are reportedly 36 and 37-years-old, with one being the owner of the apartment.
Wednesday’s discovery is being handled by Paris anti-terror prosecutors, AFP reports.
France has been the site of numerous terror attacks in recent years.
ISIS jihadists struck in Paris in November 2015, killing 130 people — 89 of whom were targeted at the Bataclan theater.
In July 2016, a 31-year-old Islamic State radical used a 20-ton truck to plow down scores of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice. The attack left 84 people dead and hundreds more injured.
The country has also been victim to a slew of smaller assaults, mainly targeting security forces and small groups of people.
In April, an Islamic terrorist shot and killed a police officer and wounded two others — using an AK-47 rifle on the Champs-Élysées shopping boulevard in Paris.
A month later, a man attacked an officer with a hammer at the Notre-Dame Cathedral, proclaiming: “This is for Syria.”
With Post Wires