PARIS, Dec 17: French police said they caught three Al Qaeda men who were allegedly preparing a chemical-biological attack during the Christmas holiday season against either a French department store, or the Paris subway.

DST (Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire) agents rounded up the three on Monday morning at Courneuve, not far from the La Defense business district.

All three were said by police to have undergone training in eastern Afghanistan and Chechnya.

One of the men, Mirouane Benhamed, who also holds French nationality, was long on the DST anti-terrorist “list” as he is also suspected of having taken part in preparations for the terrorist attack two years ago against a holiday shopping center at Strasbourg, the eastern French city that is also home to the European Parliament.