Saboteur who caused railway disruption arrested in France

Saboteur who caused a railway failure arrested in France Yuliya Lazarenko

A failure has occurred on the French railway. Gerald Darmanin comments that left-wing extremists are behind the sabotage of the SNCF network.

According to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, several suspects have been identified so far. In particular, the style of work of the saboteurs had signs of left-wing extremists.

Read also In France, they committed sabotage on the railway before the Olympics: disruptions may last until the end of the weekend

What happened the day before

On July 26, a large-scale disruption to the railway operation occurred in France. At the same time, the authorities announced a possible sabotage. According to the railway operator SNCF, unknown persons damaged three high-speed lines at night.

The sabotage occurred on the day the Olympic Games began. Three high-speed lines were damaged – northern, eastern and towards the Atlantic Ocean. Residents of France were urged not to plan trips until July 29.

Due to the sabotage, approximately 800 thousand people experienced train disruptions. Also, flights had to be completely canceled for almost 100 thousand people.

Who is involved in the sabotage of the railway

The suspect was arrested in the Normandy town of Oiselle in northern France on Sunday, July 28. He was found with keys to SNCF technical rooms, tools and literature linked to far-left movements, police sources said.

Darmanin said law enforcement “identified a certain number of people” who could have been involved in the sabotage of the railway infrastructure on Friday night.

These are traditional methods of the far left, and while identifying those involved, some people may turn out to be linked to these movements, but I will wait until all the elements of the investigation emerge.

It is too early to say whether this person is linked to the acts of sabotage that paralyzed the French rail network last Friday. He is currently being questioned by the French police.

Not only the railway was affected

Meanwhile, on Monday, July 29, new acts of sabotage occurred on fiber optic cables in several areas of France.

Telecommunication facilities belonging to the French company SFR became victims of acts of vandalism on Monday night, the French newspaper Le Parisien reports.

According to the publication, cables in electrical cabinets were cut in different areas of France, which affected the operation of fixed-line communications. It is not yet known whether there is a connection between the acts of vandalism at telecommunications facilities and the sabotage on the railway network last week.

This is not the first attempt to disrupt the Olympics. The day before, French intelligence services detained a Russian FSB agent who “drank away” this opportunity.