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Security officials in France and neighboring Switzerland arrested 10 terror suspects Tuesday, as part of an ongoing counterterror operation, ABC News reported.

French officials say the suspects were plotting attacks across France, including terror plots aimed at Paris suburbs and the southern coastal towns of Aix-en-Provence and Menton.

The arrests are the culmination of counterterror efforts by French antiterrorism teams and their Swiss counterparts since July to break up cells suspected of using the Telegram Messenger system, an advanced online messenger service for sending and receiving heavily encrypted messages which can be set to automatically delete or “self-destruct”.

The investigation was opened this summer after a suspect in Switzerland had Telegram to discuss potential terror attacks with co-conspirators across France.

Authorities declined to elaborate on the nature of the “violent acts” planned by the terror cell, saying only that the arrests were carried out Tuesday out of fear that the suspects were readying themselves for an upcoming attack.