A search of the car carrying Horațiu Potra found a 50-mm pistol and bladed weapons. Other weapons, including swords and machetes, bulletproof jackets, helmets and 25,000 lei ($18,000) in cash, were also found in the other vehicles.

As part of a wider investigation into the incident, police on Monday searched 12 properties across the capital, as well as Ilfov and Sibiu counties.

The detention came as Romania wrestles with an unprecedented political crisis following the decision by the Constitutional Tribunal to annul the result of the first-round presidential election owing to widespread allegations of Russian interference.

Călin Georgescu, an ultra-nationalist with pro-Russia leanings who was a rank outsider before the vote, won the first round of the election for Romanian president in a result that stunned Romania.

#Roumanie 🇷🇴 : arrestation ce dimanche de Horațiu Potra, chef des instructeurs Roumains 🇷🇴 qui forment les #FARDC dans le cadre de la lutte contre les groupes armés avec un accent particulier sur le #M23_RDF et la maintenance des avions de guerre et armes lourdes.

Horațiu Potra,… pic.twitter.com/OvG87QqrOq

— Daniel Michombero /Batubenga (@michombero) December 9, 2024

Although Potra, who worked as a mercenary in the Congo and is a former member of the French Foreign Legion, has yet to be formally charged, speculation over just what he and his associates were planning has fueled headlines in Romania, adding to the muddy swirl of rumor and allegation circulating in the country.