Geneva Police Hunt Terror Suspects as U.N

Geneva increased its level of security alert on Thursday as law enforcement personnel actively tracked down individuals thought to be linked to the investigation of the Paris terrorist attacks in November.

It said federal authorities transmitted information on Wednesday information about the “possible planning of a terrorist event” to Geneva security officials.

As city police raised their security alert level, Swiss state prosecutors opened investigations into a suspected criminal plot and suspected violations of a ban into groups like Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Geneva authorities have also heightened surveillance at sensitive locations such as synagogues, airports, train stations, and other gathering places.

Geneva is nearly entirely enclosed by France, a country still reeling from the militant attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris last month.

A senior USA counter terrorism official told NBC News that the Central Intelligence Agency tipped off the Swiss authorities.

Security forces stand guard at the entrance of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva on Dec 10, 2015. Normally, officers carry lighter weapons. Salah Abdeslam, a fugitive suspected in the deadly attacks in Paris, is still at large.

“We went from a vague threat to a specific threat”, Geneva security spokeswoman Emmanuelle Lo Verso told Swiss Radio, adding that the search for the suspects was at “a very active phase”. He was reportedly accompanied by Ahmad Dahmani, another Belgian arrested in Turkey last week in connection with the Paris attacks.

Swiss media reports said leaders at the mosque had been preaching extremist ideology, but there was no indication from police that the two imams were implicated in any wrongdoing.

A police operation was underway on a road leading to the French border, RTS television reported. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter.