Bomb threats against Bonn central station Police believe sole perpetrator made threat calls

Bonn · On Wednesday, Bonn's main railway station was again closed for a third time in the space of days. An abandoned suitcase later turned out to be a harmless object. In the meantime, the police assume that the previous bomb threats were made by a sole perpetrator.

 From this telephone booth at Bischofsplatz the threat call was made. Photo: Matthias Kehrein

From this telephone booth at Bischofsplatz the threat call was made. Photo: Matthias Kehrein

Foto: Matthias Kehrein

It is Wednesday morning, shortly after eleven o'clock, when the police receive an emergency call from Bonn main station. A traveller has discovered two abandoned suitcases on platform 1 - just opposite the entrance to the DB information desk. It takes only a few minutes until the platform is swarming with Federal Police officers. Short consultation and the station is evacuated and closed - after the bomb threats on Sunday and Tuesday it is the third time this week. Only hours later, around 3.30 pm, the all-clear is given: the suitcases contain only a few crumpled pieces of clothing and food.

A 46-year-old man had reported to the Federal Police on site around 2:45 p.m. and declared that the suitcases were his luggage, Federal Police spokesman Christian Große-Onnebrink told the media representatives gathered in front of the station a little later. After lengthy interrogation, police officers finally open the ominous suitcases. Shortly afterwards, the police lifted the blockade.

It remains unclear exactly who the man is and why he left his suitcases there unattended for several hours. "The operation still has to be followed up", the police say.

Due to the contents of the suitcases, which were scattered around the platform for some time after the station was opened until German Railway employees collected them with a wheelbarrow, some observers suspect that it could be a man who lives mainly on the street and has stored his belongings in the suitcases. The police, however, will not comment on this speculation.

It also remains unclear whether the man will face punishment or demands for recourse. After all, on Wednesday afternoon the officers were on the scene for hours with a large contingent, as they were on Tuesday and Sunday, and there were massive obstructions and delays in DB's local and long-distance traffic.

When, after the deployment of explosive detection dogs and an initial assessment by explosives experts, the Federal Police could not completely rule out a serious danger, the officers even cordoned off the area around the station. The Maximiliancenter also had to be completely cleared. Even the Merzenich bakery on the corner of the center at Poststraße/Maximilianstraße was evacuated - guests and sales staff were standing somewhat perplexed on the street.

Local traffic came to a standstill

Now the entire local traffic with buses, trams and taxis, which until then had been able to roll unhindered, came to a standstill in front of the main station. Drivers coming from the direction of Kaiserplatz turn into the pedestrian area of Maximilianstraße and then into Gangolfstraße without further ado in front of the police to find their way out of the city through the pedestrian zone. For a short time it looked as if traffic chaos is about to break out around the bus station, but then employees of the public order office and police officers steer the car drivers from Maximilianstraße in the direction of the south underpass.

Meanwhile, numerous people with suitcases and rucksacks surround the DB staff, who stand in front of the fluttering tapes with which the police have cordoned off the area, tirelessly providing information and, as best they can, helping the stranded passengers with advice and assistance.

Most of them react with understanding. One elderly woman, on the other hand, is upset: "I actually wanted to travel by train last night. Because of the closure, I postponed the trip until today. Now I'm standing here again and can't get away." Nearby, however, Philipp (12) observes the events quite calmly. The boy goes to school in Bonn and lives in Bodendorf. He too cannot get away now. A policeman has lent him a mobile phone so that Philipp can call his parents. "My credit was used up," says the boy. Now he is waiting for his mother, she wants to pick him up by car.

News about the bomb threats on Sunday and Tuesday

In the evening, the Bonn police spokesman Robert Scholten reported to the GA that the cooperation with the federal police had worked excellently. Scholten also has news regarding the bomb threats of Sunday and Tuesday: "We have indications that it could be one and the same perpetrator.

A recording of the second call, which according to Scholten was made from a telephone booth on Bischofsplatz, has been put on the net by the police. The first call on Sunday was, as reported, from a telephone booth on Poppelsdorfer Allee. "We assume that the perpetrator comes from the area around the main station," Scholten said.

A man from the scene around the Kaiserbrunnen, who sits daily at the underpass to Popallee, believes that the perpetrator comes from the drug scene. "He wants to take revenge, because of the police controls so often there." One thing is certain: The callers are threatened with severe penalties and in any case, according to Scholten, they will be charged for the costs of the missions amounting to several tens of thousands of Euros.

Original text: Lisa Inhoffen. Translation: Mareike Graepel

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