A former French policeman has denied any role in the killing of a British-Iraqi family in 2012 as police extended his detention despite admitting that he seemed to have no link to the case.
A source close to the probe said the custody had been extended by 48 hours as investigators pursue suspicions the man was involved in arms trafficking.
A second man arrested in connection with the case also remained in detention.
The 48-year-old ex-policeman has denied any role in the quadruple murders on September 5, 2012 in the French Alps, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Investigators had earlier said mobile phone records showed the man was near the crime scene on the day of the horrific killings.
The ex-cop was detained on Tuesday in what appeared to be the first breakthrough in the murder case, which has baffled investigators on both sides of the English Channel.
But prosecutors said on Wednesday that it was "highly unlikely" he would be charged in the case and would probably instead face charges of arms trafficking.
A large cache of weapons was found in the home of the man, who investigators said bore a strong resemblance to an identikit image released in November of a mysterious motorcyclist seen near the scene of the crime.
Saad al-Hilli, a 50-year-old Iraqi-born British tourist, was gunned down along with his 47-year-old wife Iqbal and her 74-year-old mother in a woodland car park close to the village of Chevaline.
The couple's two daughters, aged seven and four at the time, survived the attack, but a 45-year-old French cyclist, Sylvain Mollier, was killed after apparently stumbling upon the scene.
