Frenchman arrested in Ukraine for reportedly planning attack on his homeland

A Frenchman whose car reportedly contained a cache of explosives and weapons for a planned attack on his homeland was arrested on the Ukrainian and Polish border at the end of last month. The arrest raised the spectre of another attack in the country by a homegrown terror suspect just before the European Championship finals.

Security services in all three countries were cagey about the arrest. Oleg Slobodyan, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Border Guard, confirmed it took place but he did not provide any further details.

The French interior ministry said the case is being handled by judicial officials, but neither they nor spokespeople from Ukraine's SBU security service and the Polish border guard, would comment further.

French broadcaster M6 reported on 3 June that the 25-year-old was arrested with an arsenal of weapons and explosives including rocket launchers and Kalashnikov assault rifles in his vehicle. IBTimes UK was unable to independently verify this.

The man remains in Ukrainian custody, pending a possible extradition request from Paris, the broadcaster reported.

There has been spate of deadly attacks on France in recent years, beginning the massacre of staff at satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January 2015. Armed with assault rifles, two brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi, forced their way into the offices of the publication and opened fire with assault rifles and other weapons, killing 11 people and injured 11 others in the building.

A massive manhunt led to their discovery and after exchanging fire with police, the pair took hostages at a signage company before they were shot dead as they emerged firing from a signage company building they had holed up in.

The surviving Charlie Hebdo staff continued normal weekly publication. The following issue print run 7.95 million copies in six languages.

Two days after the Charlie Hebdo attack Amedy Coulibaly killed four hostages at a Paris kosher supermarket while demanding the release of the Kouachi brothers. He was also shot dead a policewoman before he too was killed in a police raid.

In June 2015, truck driver Yassin Salhi, 35, beheaded his boss Hervé Cornara, 54, before trying to blow up a chemicals factory near Lyon.

The worst attack was a series of coordinated attacks on the French capital in November 2015 left 130 people dead and hundreds wounded. Three suicide bombers struck near the Stade de France stadium in Saint-Denis, followed by suicide bombings and mass shootings at cafés, restaurants. Eighty-nine of the victims lost their lives in the Bataclan concert hall when gunmen opened fire during a concert by the Eagles of Death Metal rock band.

A number of attackers died during raids by French police a few days after the atrocity, although a number are still believed to be at large. However, Salah Abdeslam, a 27-year-old French national is currently awaiting trial in France. He is suspected of having rented two cars used to transport the attackers to, and around, the French capital.

He was captured in Belgium following a four-month manhunt that saw him described as "the most wanted man in Europe" following the attacks, in which Abdeslam's brother Brahim detonated a bomb in a suicide attack at a café.

Belgian police also arrested Mohamed Abrini, a key suspect in the Paris and Brussels attacks in April.