The ENT is an internet portal that serves to connect parents, teachers and students, and to communicate and exchange information on the life of colleges and high schools.
According to the Ministry of National Education, contacted by AFP, "about twenty establishments (middle and high schools) were concerned in metropolitan France by these messages carrying threats of attack, mainly in the Lille academy, and to a lesser extent in those of Créteil, Grenoble, Versailles, Normandy and Lyon".
"These messages were spotted by parents on WhatsApp, Snapchat or ENTs," the ministry added.
According to a police source, messages were sent on January 2 and 3 to students' ENT accounts.
There were evacuations for "removal of doubts" in establishments in Seine-et-Marne, La Madeleine (North), Rillieux-la-Pape (Rhône), Marseille, Caen or even Carvin (Pas-de- Calais).
Tuesday morning, the day of recovery after the Christmas holidays, a high school, a college and a school, located in the same perimeter, were thus evacuated to Carvin "following a threat of explosives" against the school, according to the prefecture of Pas de Calais.
For these facts, which gave rise to "thorough inspection" of the Diderot de Carvin high school and the neighboring college, the Béthune public prosecutor's office opened an investigation by the head of "threats to commit a crime", he announced. Tuesday in a press release.
No trace of explosives was found.
Hacked account
According to the rectorate of Lille, the Baggio high school had already been evacuated on Monday but only the staff were present, not the students (whose return was Tuesday).
A source close to the investigation evokes "the ENT account of a student who sent an email" announcing that he was going to blow up the establishment.
"The account holder was arrested and taken into custody on Monday but released because his account was hacked," the source said.
“Everywhere in France, high schools are recipients of emails threatening attacks on ENT” but “the senders of the emails are not the authors”, added this source close to the investigation.
"The Cybercrime Unit is very closely associated with the investigation," she said.
The Valentine-Labbé high school in La Madeleine (North) was also evacuated on Monday.
“A message will be sent to all the principals asking them to be vigilant and to warn the police services” if necessary, indicated the rectorate of Lille.
The Hauts-de-France region announced on Tuesday evening that it had "decided to file complaints for each of the threats published on the ENT", specifying that four establishments had "received these messages carrying threats" in the Lille academy and that another high school had been targeted in the academy of Amiens.
In the Rhône, the Camus-Sermenaz multipurpose high school, in Rillieux-la-Pape, was temporarily evacuated Tuesday morning after a bomb alert.
According to the town hall, the threat was issued by several emails.
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