A 13-year-old student was arrested at his family's home in Laval on Monday and admitted to making numerous false bomb warnings throughout France through a “game,” we learned Thursday from the Rennes prosecutor's office.
• Also read: Thirty years in prison in France for the femicide of Aurélie, “a terrible crime”
• Also read: Reims: Three students attack a teacher and a teaching assistant
At that time, an investigation into these false alarms was launched in Rennes, particularly affecting Rennes train station (January 10) and Rennes and Hyères-Toulon airports (December 31). But “several hundred false alarms throughout the national territory (especially at the expense of airports, courts, universities, etc.) could be attributed to this minor,” emphasizes the prosecutor of Rennes, Philippe Astruc, confirming information from Western France.
Several members of the same family – two parents and two children – residing in Laval were arrested on Monday and taken into police custody as part of this investigation.
“One of the children of the family, a 4th grade minor born in 2010, admitted to being the author of numerous bomb threats throughout the national territory,” saying “that he acted for fun without any political or religious consideration.” explains Mr. Astruc.
The teenager used a foreign VPN (virtual private network) to hide his internet address and evade tracking, but police managed to identify him “through their technical investigations and by activating international cooperation,” the prosecutor said.
The suspect's parents and brother were exonerated and released Tuesday evening.
The minor, “who apparently suffers from significant personality disorders,” was scheduled to be brought before the investigating judge on Thursday afternoon.
The acts he could be accused of (spreading false information to deceive people into dangerous destruction, death threats, attempted extortion) carry a maximum penalty of seven years in prison.
“This type of particularly unacceptable threat represents a serious attack on public peace and leads to the mobilization of significant police or gendarmerie services to the detriment of other missions and also has a particularly fear-inducing character in the very real context of the terrorist threat.” We know it” , added Philippe Astruc.