Investigators trace multiple leads to false bomb threats. A 16-year-old teenager was arrested and taken into police custody this Friday after threatening messages and bomb threats were sent targeting the Trégey high school in Bordeaux, reports Sud Ouest. The Minister of National Education also visited the establishment this Friday to provide support to the staff.
Bomb threat messages signed “Al-Qaeda”, “Daesh” and even “Hamas” had been sent by email to the high school. The Bordeaux public prosecutor's office therefore contacted the services of the Organized and Specialized Crime Division of the interdepartmental judicial police service, Bordeaux prosecutor Frédérique Porterie told the local daily.
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Arrested this Friday morning, he was placed in police custody on charges of "threats of death or dangerous damage to people against a person responsible for a public service mission", "public insult due to of origin, ethnicity, nation, race or religion” and “public apology for an act of terrorism”. The principal of the establishment and the teachers targeted by the writings filed a complaint.
The prosecutor specifies that the accused “partially” admitted the facts, justifying them by “his laziness in going to class”. On the other hand, he contests “any malice and any desire to take action”, further specifies Frédérique Porterie. The young man could be referred to the prosecution this Saturday.
Four false bomb threats in Alsace
A 15-year-old teenager was also arrested and placed under judicial supervision after recognizing four false bomb threats targeting two colleges this week in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) and its suburbs, AFP learned Friday from a police source. This teenager, who was placed in a home, was placed under judicial supervision pending a court decision.
Between Monday and Wednesday, he made four calls which required evacuations and inspections of a college in Riedisheim, in which he was educated, and of the Mulhouse district of Bourtzwiller. The college located in this working-class neighborhood had to be evacuated for three days. In his calls, he mentioned the presence in the C-4 establishments, a variety of explosives.
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Arrested very quickly on Thursday after his last call to the home where he was staying and presented to a children's judge, he admitted to four phone calls to have fun and "do like the others", according to the police source.
Dozens of high schools and colleges across France have recently been the subject of threats of attacks via digital workspace messaging (ENT), the suspension of which was announced Thursday evening by the Minister of Education Nicole Belloubet. Since the middle of last week, more than 150 establishments located in twenty academies in total have been targeted, according to the ministry.