A French national believed to be involved in last week's terrorist attacks in Paris was arrested in Bulgaria while he was attempting to cross into Turkey, local prosecutors said on Tuesday.
Fritz-Joly Joachim, 28, was nabbed by Bulgarian authorities two weeks ago for allegedly kidnapping his 3-year-old son and trying to take him into Syria, said Darina Slavova, a prosecutor in the southern Bulgarian city of Haskovo. But after receiving a European arrest warrant on Monday, Bulgarian authorities learned that Joachin was also part of a "terrorist criminal group" which was in contact with one of the two brothers who carried out attacks at Charlie Hebdo last week.
"The charges are for participation in an organized crime group whose aim was organization of terrorist acts," Slavova told ABC News.
The contact between the two suspects took place before the 28-year-old left France on Dec. 30, a week before Al Qaeda-linked terrorist brothers, Said and Chérif Kouachi, methodically executed 12 people in an attack on the Paris headquarters of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
The 29-year-old "was in contact several times with one of the two brothers -- Cherif Kouachi," Slavova told Agence France-Presse, adding that he is expected to be extradited back to France.
A French citizen of Haitian origin, Joachim converted to Islam 15 years ago but reportedly became radicalized only two years ago, according to the arrest warrant.
Currently, as many as six members of a terrorist cell are being searched by French officials for being "potential accomplices" in last week's massacre.
In addition, a massive international manhunt has also been underway to locate the wife of the terrorist behind a supermarket siege in Paris. Hayat Boumedienne has been identified as the common-law wife and suspected accomplice of Amédy Coulibaly, a militant Islamist who opened fire inside a kosher supermarket on Thursday, killing four people before dying in a gun battle with police authorities.
However the 26-year-old suspect reportedly crossed into Syria on Jan. 8, French officials said.
Meanwhile, police are also searching for a person responsible for filming and posting a video of one of the attackers explaining how the massacre would unfold in Paris.
