Alps Killings: No Charges For Arrested Man

No charges will be brought against a man arrested over the killing of a British family in the French Alps.

However, the 48-year-old remains in police custody while officers investigate his alleged involvement in arms trafficking.

Saad al Hilli, an Iraqi-born British tourist, was shot dead along with his wife Iqbal and her mother Suhaila al Allaf in his BMW estate car in September 2012.

The couple's two daughters, aged seven and four at the time, survived the attack in a woodland car park close to Chevaline in the hills above Lake Annecy.

Passing French cyclist Sylvain Mollier was also killed after apparently stumbling upon the scene.

A man from the Haute-Savoie region, believed to be former police officer Eric Devouassoux, was held in connection with the killings on Tuesday but investigators found "no direct link" between him and the shootings.

Mr Maillaud said: "The searches and interviews of the last three days have not enabled us to establish a direct link between the events of September 5, 2012, and this man, a war weapons enthusiast, who looked very like the e-fit released on November 4, 2013, and who was near to the place where the incident took place when it happened.

"The weapon used in the crime has not been found, neither has the helmet which featured in the e-fit, nor the motorbike described by several witnesses which investigators were looking for.

"The investigation continues.

"However, the man will be taken into custody, overseen by the public prosecutor's office in Annecy, in connection with illicit trading in wartime weapons and ammunition found during searches by investigators, this illicit activity being carried out as part of an organised gang."

A second man arrested earlier this week in connection with alleged arms trading is also still in custody.

On Wednesday, Mr Maillaud told journalists that 40 wartime guns were found when officers searched the suspect's home and that of his in-laws, but not the murder weapon.

Speculation since the death has surrounded whether the shooting was linked to the al Hillis' native Iraq, or Saad al Hilli's work as a satellite engineer.

Last month, Mr al Hilli's brother Zaid, who was arrested in connection with the shooting, had his bail cancelled by Surrey Police after the force decided there was insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime.

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