Police in the western Brittany region have detained a 13-year-old boy who they believe is responsible for hundreds of bomb threats that have kept France on tenterhooks since the autumn.
An investigation was launched on Thursday to determine the teen’s connection to a series of at least 380 hoax bomb threats, according to the public prosecutor’s office in Rennes and the newspaper Le Parisien.
The boy is suspected of making bomb threats throughout France, in particular against airports, courthouses and universities, it said.
He admitted that he had acted out of “playfulness” and without any political or religious intention, the office said.
The 13-year-old student, who is now in custody, reportedly has a personality disorder and has already been given a one-year educational measure, the Ouest-France newspaper wrote.
The boy’s whole family was initially taken into police custody, but were later released.
Louvre and Versailles Palace evacuated after bomb threats with France on alert
Louvre and Versailles Palace evacuated after bomb threats with France on alert
A spate of false bomb threats caused serious problems in France in the autumn, without the authorities being able to classify the threats.
They began after a deadly attack in October by a young Islamist on a teacher in northern France and the start of the Gaza war.
No specific threat or political reference was ever identified. In many cases, authorities said young people were identified as the perpetrators.
According to police reports, videos of the school evictions were clicked on millions of times on social networks.
Threats paralysed airports, sometimes for days in a row, and the tourist hotspot of Versailles Palace was also frequently affected.