Overview
- Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office and Frankfurt’s cybercrime prosecutors searched homes in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Hesse, and at a juvenile witness in Saxony-Anhalt.
- Four male suspects, including two 16-year-olds, are accused of using a messenger group called “Schweinetreff” to send hundreds of fake bomb-threat emails to schools, train stations, shopping centers, and other public sites.
- No arrests or executed warrants were announced, and investigators confiscated electronic devices and storage media for forensic analysis.
- Authorities report widespread disruptions, costs in the high five-figure range, and psychological strain on school communities, with cited cases in 2024 including Essen’s Limbecker Platz, Neunkirchen station, and MDR’s Magdeburg facility.
- Officials say many messages adopted Islamist references to attract attention, but no religious or political motive has been substantiated; leads from Austria helped identify suspects including a 23-year-old from Frankfurt and a 20-year-old from Dortmund.