On 28th March, French police averted an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris after they arrested a man who was just about to detonate a homemade explosive device, sources close to the case said.

The event happened at approximately 3:30 am (0130 GMT) in front of a Bank of America building in the fancy 8th arrondissement, which is a few streets away from the Champs-Élysées.

One of the sources said that the man was arrested by the police as he attached a device made of five litres of liquid that was suspected to be fuel and an ignition system.

The office of the counter-terrorism prosecutor in France on Saturday announced that it had assumed the investigation. The office confirmed that one of the suspects who had been caught red-handed was in the custody of the police and that it was “investigating alleged attempted damage by fire or other dangerous means in connection with a terrorist undertaking and a terrorist criminal conspiracy.”

The office said that both the Paris judicial police and the domestic intelligence service of France, the General Directorate for Internal Security (DGSI), are part of the investigation.

The guard is even more vigilant than ever

“Well done to the quick-thinking police force of the Paris police authority, ‌whose efforts prevented a bloody terrorist attack in Paris last night,” Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said. “Vigilance is more than ever before. I laud all the security forces and intelligence forces who are in full swing under my command in the prevailing international environment.”

The Paris police authority refused to comment. A spokesperson of Bank of America informed Reuters, “it is aware of the situation and is communicating with the authorities.”

The suspect was arrested, and a second person who was on the scene escaped and is still free, according to French newspaper Le Parisien on Saturday. The machine comprised a five-litre vessel, containing an unknown liquid ⁠and an explosive charge, comprising approximately 650 grams of powder, Le Parisien added. It was sealed and delivered to the forensic specialists of the Paris police laboratory, it reported.

Recruited via Snapchat

A police source claimed that the suspect was recruited through the Snapchat application to conduct the bombing in exchange for an amount of money amounting to €600 (692). At the time he was arrested by the patrolling officers, he was preparing to light the device using a lighter.

According to a separate police source, as he was charging him, the accomplice was moving back, presumably to capture a photograph or video of the crime with his mobile phone.

One of Bank of America’s spokespersons, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, informed AFP that they knew about the situation and were in contact with the French authorities.

The Interior Minister of France, Laurent Nunez, on X celebrated such a fast intervention by the police officers in the light of the “prevailing international circumstances.” Ever since the onset of the Middle East war, the European nations have been on their guard against the possibility of attack on the Iranian dissident groups, Jewish religious establishments and US-Israeli properties.

The other source near the case informed AFP that the foiled plot emerged to be the concretisation of the Iranian threat to American and Israeli interests everywhere in Europe.

In an interview with news channel BFMTV, he stated later that he believed the Middle East war could have been the cause of the attack.

He said that he made a connection between the activities undertaken in neighbouring countries and those attributed to small factions that cited the conflict.

In this case, Dutch police officials have also indicated earlier this month that they believe that four young men who were arrested on suspicion of planting an explosive device outside a synagogue in Rotterdam were recruited and trained by Iran.

And in Britain, there was a little-known faction with Iran who said it carried out a fire bombing in London last week on four ambulances on volunteer service with a Jewish organisation.

Ever since the war in the Middle East, the European countries have been vigilant on the possibility of an attack on the Iranian dissidents, Jewish places of worship and US-Israeli property.