The fear seized this Tuesday in the evening of the Saint-Charles station, in Marseilles, blocked more than an hour after "a big intervention of the police force" for "a potentially threatening individual" in a TGV coming from Nancy.
Passengers of another train blocked on the tracks before its arrival in Marseille because of this intervention explained that they had been informed of "an attack alert", or even of "an attempted attack".
"Malicious intentions"
"We were alerted that a potentially threatening individual would be on board" the TGV connecting Nancy to Nice "and that he could have malicious intentions", detailed the Marseille police chief Frédérique Camilleri during an impromptu press briefing at Saint-Charles station, around 10:30 p.m., after the site has reopened to passengers and the public.
The man in question was finally arrested by police officers from the Marseille anti-crime brigade after their intervention on board the train.
He "was taken into police custody for possession of a category D weapon, an artisanal baton, and for criminal association with a view to committing a crime", explained for his part the deputy public prosecutor of Marseille André Ribes .
"He did not have a handgun on him, nor a firearm," he said.
The investigation was entrusted to the judicial police of Marseille and the Departmental Directorate of Public Security of Bouches-du-Rhône.
The National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor's Office has been informed but has not been contacted.
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Crime
Attack
Marseilles
Station
TGV