Nice terror attack: 'soldier of Islam' Bouhlel 'took drugs and used dating sites to pick up men and women'

'Loner' Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel was killed by police after unleashing carnage on the 30,000-strong crowd in Nice CREDIT: MATRIX

The Bastille Day killer described by Isil as a "soldier of Islam" regularly used dating sites to pick up male and female lovers, it was claimed on Sunday night.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel's mobile phone records suggest he used dating websites and dabbled with drugs and drink, French media reported.

The handset was picked up by police officers after they shot him dead last Thursday in a lorry that he had used to kill 84 people on the Promenade des Anglais, in the French city of Nice. 

According to officers, the phone is proving more important to the investigation than the seven suspects currently in custody for their links to the terrorist. 

The killer is said to have sent a chilling text message demanding weapons minutes before the seafront massacre.

Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel CREDIT: MATRIXPICTURES.CO.UK

Suspects range from two Albanians suspected of supplying a pistol toBouhlel, and others whose phone numbers appeared on the phone.

Another man, 37, arrested in Nice on Sunday is suspected of supplying arms to the killer after reportedly receiving messages saying: "Bring more weapons, bring five of them to C.”

The message is said to have been sent 18 minutes before he ploughed a 19-tonne lorry into holiday crowds, killing 84 people.

More than 200 investigators were urgently working to determine the significance of ‘C’ and whether the killer had accomplices or links with a terrorist network.

Bundles of flowers and notes mark the spots where people's bodies were found in NicePlay!00:32

Seven people including a woman were in custody on Sunday night after the arrests earlier in the day of an Albanian couple suspected of aiding Bouhlel, described by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) as one its “soldiers”.

He sent a flurry of texts shortly before the attack. Another one, saying “I’ve got the material”, was sent to one of the men in custody, whose identities have not been made public.

Bouhlel fired a 7.65mm automatic handgun at police before they shot him dead on Thursday night. Other weapons found in the lorry turned out to be fakes or replicas.

CCTV cameras on the Promenade des Anglais, the scene of the massacre, captured Bouhlel twice in the two days before the attack driving the lorry as he scrutinised his surroundings, apparently preparing how best to execute the attack.Bouhlel's phone is said to be full of messages, videos and photographs, including ones of men and women he had recently slept with. 

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