French anti-terror investigators suspect criminal networks were recruited to carry out a failed assassination plot against Algerian journalist and opposition figure Hichem Aboud, according to details published by Le Monde from an ongoing judicial investigation that has heightened scrutiny of Algerian interference and banditry on French soil.
The investigation stems from a February 2025 operation targeting Aboud in the northern French city of Roubaix.
Four suspects were placed under formal investigation in May on charges including attempted murder linked to a terrorist enterprise and participation in a terrorist criminal conspiracy, according to French judicial authorities.
According to Le Monde, investigators uncovered the alleged plot while examining encrypted messages found during a separate investigation into a 2024 museum robbery in eastern France.
Messages recovered from a suspect’s phone referred to a paid mission to kill an Algerian opposition figure, later identified as Aboud. The case was subsequently taken over by France’s National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT).
French judicial documents cited by the paper describe what authorities suspect are “criminal networks activated in the service of a foreign power.”
Aboud, a former Algerian intelligence officer turned journalist and longtime critic of the Algerian government, has said he has been targeted repeatedly in Europe. French investigators say an armed team traveled to Roubaix with instructions to locate and kill him, but the operation failed when the intended target was not present.
The case follows another high-profile French investigation involving Algerian dissident Amir Boukhors, known online as Amir DZ. French anti-terror prosecutors have charged several individuals, including an Algerian consular employee, over the 2024 abduction of Amir DZ near Paris.
A French judge later issued an international arrest warrant for a former Algerian diplomat suspected of involvement in the case. Authorities have pursued the matter under anti-terrorism provisions, including charges linked to kidnapping and terrorist conspiracy.