Activities of Detainee Engaged in School Threats Probably Financed from Russia

Prague/Bratislava, 16 July (TASR-correspondent) - The activities of a man who was detained in Ukraine by a Slovak-Czech-Ukrainian police team on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into last year's bomb threats to thousands of schools in the Czech Republic and Slovakia were probably financed by a person from Russia, the Czech Security Intelligence Service (BIS), which participated in the international operation, has posted on a social network. The Slovak police on Wednesday morning reported on a joint operation with their Czech and Ukrainian peers in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, during which a Ukrainian national was detained. It added that houses and other premises are currently being searched in several locations in the eastern-Ukrainian city, with police units seizing computers and mobile telecommunications equipment. The Czech police confirmed the joint operation later in the day, specifying that the National Centre for Combating Terrorism, Extremism and Cybercrime (NCTEKK) was involved in it, as well as BIS intelligence officers. The Czech Police Corps Presidium confirmed that a young man who is suspected of the cyber attacks has been detained. According to the Czech police, the man committed these cyber attacks not only in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, but in many other European countries as well. "The possible involvement of other people who may have organised or financed the sending of threatening emails is currently under investigation," said the Czech Police Corps Presidium. BIS added that activities of the detainee were most likely financed by a person from Russia. ko/df