For days, bomb threats against schools, authorities and companies led to many police operations. Now the police and public prosecutor’s office have identified two suspects.
In connection with a series of bomb threats, investigators have identified two suspects and searched two apartments in Baden-Württemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia. As the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office and the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Police Office announced, numerous pieces of evidence such as computers, hard drives and cell phones were seized during the searches on Friday. There were no arrests, said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office.
According to the information, the investigation is directed against a 19-year-old from the Hohenlohe district in the north of Baden-Württemberg and a 30-year-old from the Minden-Lübbecke district in East Westphalia. According to the public prosecutor’s office, the investigation concerns a nationwide series of bomb threats. The perpetrators are said to have posed as opponents or members of Hamas or IS via email and threatened to kill innocent people.
The aim was to trigger complex police operations and disrupt the public’s sense of security, it was said. Specifically, the two suspects are said to have, among other things, deliberately triggered false emergency calls in order to provoke police and fire service operations.
Both suspects had been questioned, the public prosecutor’s office said when asked. For tactical reasons, a spokesman did not want to say whether the two men had commented on the allegations.
In total, more than 250 bomb threats
The 30-year-old is being investigated for 29 bomb threats, and the authorities have so far accused the 19-year-old of four alleged crimes, said a spokesman for the Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office. There is a suspicion that the two were part of a group. In total, more than 250 such bomb threats have been recorded nationwide since October 19th.
These were directed against schools, universities, media and companies, among others, and triggered more than 30 police operations nationwide – often with extensive evacuation measures, the investigators said. Hamburg Airport was also affected.
According to investigators, bomb threats can result in severe penalties. Such threatening emails could result in a fine or a prison sentence of up to three years, it said. This also applies to false bomb threats. In addition, the costs of police operations and claims for damages from affected companies and institutions could be billed to the perpetrators.
Source: Stern
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