Man admits sending death threats to French President

MAN has admitted sending death threats and bullets to President Nicolas Sarkozy and other politicians, a police official said yesterday, signalling the end of a long search for the author of the mysterious letters.

The 51-year-old member of a shooting club in southern France, who was not known to police, was arrested on Sunday night. His exact motivation was still unclear.

Police had already made two rounds of arrests, only to release the suspects without charge – much to the embarrassment of security services under pressure to solve the case.

“He confessed and said that he had acted alone,” the police official said.

A second round of interrogation will ask the man about his motivations, the official said.

Investigators tracked down the unemployed holder of a handicapped person’s card thanks to DNA that was found on four of the stamps on the letters.

About 30 letters, signed “Fighters from Cell 34“, had been received by politicians or intercepted since the beginning of the year.

Earlier this month, 11 people who all live in villages near Montpellier in southwestern France, were arrested as part of the investigation.

They were released after searches at the suspects’ homes yielded no convincing evidence.