Dakar: the investigation is not progressing following the explosion at the start of the race

A little less than three weeks since the horrific explosion that seriously injured Philippe Boutron in Jeddah, there are still complications in the ongoing investigation.

According to Franceinfo, the Saudi authorities would not collaborate in the best possible way with the French justice system and the anti-terrorist prosecution, in seizing the file.

For the moment, not a single investigator from the DGSI (General Directorate of Internal Security) has been able to approach the vehicle, or even enter the country.

On December 30, a service truck on its way to scrutineering mysteriously exploded, two days before the big start of the Dakar. At the wheel, Philippe Boutron (Team Sodicars) was seriously injured in the legs, relatives of the president of US Orleans not hesitating to speak of a bomb. On January 4, the French National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office (PNAT) opened a preliminary investigation to clarify this unusual event.

Since then, nothing has changed. Or almost. According to a source close to the file relayed by Franceinfo, the negotiations with the Saudi authorities, who nevertheless hold all the elements, are not progressing. Consequence: no French investigator from the DGSI, who must examine the vehicle, as well as the video taken by one of the surveillance cameras of the Donatello hotel, where the team was staying, has yet been able to go there. On this video, we see three or four people circling around the Sodicars car before the explosion.

🎙️🏎️ Sodicars, the Gironde team, reacts after the seizure of the anti-terrorist prosecution:

👉 "We are relieved"

👉 The co-pilot heard from Thursday by the DGSI

👉 Philippe Boutron, still placed in an artificial coma, operated again this Wednesday #Dakar # investigation https://t.co/nPXRKEKT77

— Clement Carpentier (@clementcarpet) January 5, 2022

On January 7, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, had raised the possibility of an attack and the possibility of stopping the event.

An intervention that David Castera, the director of the Dakar, had not followed.

Requested by Franceinfo, the anti-terrorist prosecution does not confirm the absence of a claim in this case.