Dribble, 28.2/Video editing: Ziv Steiner
The Paris police last night (Wednesday) arrested a suspect in the theft of a briefcase containing sensitive information regarding the security arrangements for the 2024 Olympics. The briefcase was stolen at the Gare du Nord train station on Monday evening, when it was in the possession of an engineer from the municipality of Paris.
It contained a laptop and a USB flash drive that contained information that dealt with the security of axes - roads and rivers - during the games.
The investigation shows that the same employee from the municipality's transportation department got on the train at one of the central stations in Paris and put the bag in the device above his head.
As he prepared to get off the train, he discovered that the bag was gone.
He rushed to file a complaint with the police.
After about two tense days, the police managed to locate a suspect in the theft.
It soon became clear that this was a person who had already been convicted of stealing a bag from the train in 2023.
He was arrested at the train station, possibly while planning another robbery.
The bag was also found and it turned out that the thief did not know what it contained and did not act to carry out a terrorist plan.
Police car, Paris/GettyImages, Aurelien Meunier
At the same time as the sports plans, the security forces in the whole of France are preparing in a special way for the security of the Olympic Games.
"The main danger we take into account is a terrorist attack. Unfortunately, this is something we must prepare for," said Toma Collomb, from the organizing committee, a few months ago.
The Olympics will begin on July 26 and end on August 11.
On each of these 16 days, there will be 17-22 thousand active policemen and security guards, when they will be joined by forces of the secret police.
At the opening ceremony, 2,000 police officers will be present in the stadium and 30,000 more will be stationed throughout Paris.
The police officers across France have known for a long time that in the summer of 2024 they are going to work overtime, but it is not enough.
In the meantime, the services of nearly 40 private security companies, which specialize in various issues, were hired ahead of time.
For example, part of the organizing committee's focus is on preventing a cyber attack during the games.
More on the same topic:
2024 Olympics
Paris 2024