OJ Bottle Led French Police to Soldier Stabbing Suspect

Suspect is convert to radical Islam
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted May 29, 2013 3:47 AM CDT
Updated May 29, 2013 7:03 AM CDT
France Makes Arrest in Soldier Stabbing
Police officers stand near the spot where a French soldier was stabbed in the throat in the busy commercial district of La Defense, outside Paris.   (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere)

A man accused of stabbing a French soldier in the throat over the weekend has been arrested as part of a terrorism probe—and the AP reports that an orange juice bottle led police to him. The suspect, identified only as Alexandre, is a 22-year-old petty criminal who recently converted to radical Islam, according to CNN. He was IDed through DNA he had left on a plastic juice bottle and was also filmed in Muslim prayer via a mall's surveillance cameras roughly 10 minutes before the stabbing.

France's interior minister says the suspect was known to authorities, and they are still investigating whether there is any link to the attack outside Paris and the slaying of a British soldier on a London street last week, the New York Times adds. The French prosecutor in the case says Alexandre "implicitly" confessed to the France stabbing, telling police, "I know why you're here," when they arrested him at a friend's home outside of Paris. (More France stories.)

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