Prosecutors in France have charged a 19-year-old man and another, minor, youth in the vicinity of Paris with ‘terrorist conspiracy’ after they were found to be planning a militant terrorist attack on Jewish targets, a judicial source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday. 

The teens, who met via social media, were allegedly planning a “violent action notably aiming at Jewish targets,” the source told AFP. The 19-year-old was charged with “terrorist criminal association to prepare crimes of harm to persons,” as well as “acquisition and possession of weapons in connection with a terrorist enterprise,” and placed in pre-trial detention on Friday. 

The other youth had been indicted on the same charges on June 13 and put in provisional detention. Both teens’ identities have not been released, nor have the details of their intended attack. However, the National Anti-terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT) has launched an investigation into the conspiracy.

The charges come amid a wave of violent antisemitic crimes in France, including the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in a suburb of Paris, as well as an arson attack on a synagogue in May, and lend credence to concern emerging among French officials regarding the growing numbers of adolescents or young adults participating in violent and hate-based crimes. 

“This is a necessarily worrying phenomenon,” newly-appointed anti-terrorist prosecutor Olivier Christen said during a presentation Wednesday. “There is a much larger number of minors involved in terrorist cases. Socialized, integrated, and sometimes very young, they become radicalized very quickly.”