French police suspect that people who put pigs' heads outside Paris mosques on Monday night were acting under orders from a foreign intelligence service, probably Russian.
The heads were found on Tuesday morning outside nine mosques in central Paris and surrounding suburbs, prompting a wave of outrage and condemnation.
Investigators have now said the two people involved drove a Serb-registered car, used a Croatian mobile telephone, and crossed into Belgium a few hours later.
The incident has striking similarities with other recent provocations – notably the daubing of Stars of David on Paris walls in October 2023, and the painting of red hands on the city's Holocaust memorial in May 2024.
Police identified a Moldovan connection in the first case, and in the second, four Bulgarians are due to stand trial in October.
The prosecutor in the red hands affair stated it appeared to be an attempt to destabilise France orchestrated by Russian intelligence.
Both Russia and Iran have been named by French intelligence as countries likely to provoke dissension in France through clandestine operations.
Witnesses reported seeing a man in a white T-shirt, cap, and surgical mask placing a pig's head outside a mosque in Malakoff. Another individual was observed doing the same thing in Montreuil.
Overall, this alarming event highlights the growing concern over foreign interference and the risks it poses to national unity in France.
