(Bloomberg) — French authorities have charged and jailed an adult and three teenagers between the ages of 16 and 17 for a foiled bombing attempt near a Bank of America Corp. branch. in Paris, which was seen as possible retaliation for the war with Iran.
Four people are being held in pretrial detention, a Justice Department official said late Wednesday. All the suspects deny any terrorist intent, according to France’s anti-terror prosecutors, PNAT.
The move comes after the PNAT sought charges of criminal terrorist conspiracy, manufacturing an explosive or incendiary device and attempted destruction in connection with a terrorist enterprise over the attempt. The home-made bomb consisted of a five-liter canister filled two-thirds with gasoline, then glued to a large firework.
French authorities are investigating possible links to a pro-Iranian propaganda video released last week by a group known as HAYI that called for retaliation against the interests of the Jewish community in Europe and specifically mentioned the French headquarters of Bank of America. Officials said they were working with other European law enforcement agencies, including Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
A Jewish school in Amsterdam and a synagogue in Liège, Belgium, were hit last month by an explosion that French authorities linked to the same group. An explosive device was also detonated in a synagogue in Rotterdam. In Norway, three brothers and their mother were arrested in connection with the explosion outside the US embassy in Oslo.
Police interviews and analysis of the Paris suspects’ phones and CCTV footage showed that three minors were recruited by adults on the night of March 26-27 to plant an incendiary device on the premises of the Bank of America in the eighth arrondissement of Paris, set it on fire and film the scene in exchange for an amount between €500 ($AT) and €576,025, previously reported by PN.
After a failed attempt by three minors to plant the device, two of them tried again the following night, March 28. That’s when, at about 3:20 a.m., officers conducting surveillance outside the Bank of America headquarters intervened and detained one suspect. The other managed to escape and was caught a day later.
The adult, arrested on March 30, told authorities that he himself had been contacted via social media to have the bomb planted as part of a personal vendetta and that a stranger had delivered the device to his home.
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