Ten thousand rail workers combed France’s sprawling train track network for bombs on Thursday and the government said it had heightened security for commuters alarmed by a shadowy group’s threats to blow up trains.
The conservative government, trying to reassure voters ahead of regional elections, vowed to identify and stop the previously unknown group which says it has planted 10 bombs and will explode them if it is not paid four million euros ($5 million).
The government said it is treating it as a criminal case and ruled out the involvement of radical Islamic groups. Crime specialists said that even a single dangerous crank could be behind the blackmail threats.
Police seemed to have few clues to go on except threatening letters sent to President Jacques Chirac and the Interior Ministry by a group called AFZ, and indirect contacts through a few personal messages placed in Liberation newspaper.
Under terms set by the group, the Interior Ministry identified itself as Suzy and the blackmailers called themselves Big Wolf in messages which discussed a handover of the ransom money by helicopter. The handover never took place.
“It’s ‘give us the money or we’ll blow up a train carrying passengers’,” a judicial source said of the group.
Underlining that the authorities are taking the threats seriously, 10,000 workers clad in bright yellow reflective tops searched the 32,000 km (20,000 miles) of state rail track though the night. There was no word of any bombs being found.
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