No charges filed in Thalys train panic

By Janene Pieters on September 21, 2015 - 15:57
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Police officer and police dog on Rotterdam Central Station to deal with a suspicious passenger who locked himself into a Thalys train bathroom (Picture: Twitter/@Politie_Rdam). (Police officer and police dog on Rotterdam Central Station to deal with a suspicious passenger who locked himself into a Thalys train bathroom (Picture: Twitter/@Politie_Rdam))

The Public Prosecutor has decided not to file any charges against the young man who caused the massive commotion in Rotterdam on Friday by jumping on the Thalys train heading towards Paris and locking himself into the train's bathroom. According to the Prosecutor, the boy is not suspected of a criminal offence that justifies keeping him in custody  any longer.

The Prosecutor announced on Monday that the boy had no identification on him and seems to be known on under nine different identities in different European countries. The Public Prosecutor believes that he is a 16 year old Tunisian boy who has been living a nomadic existence in Western European countries for a few years. He likely wanted to reach Paris without a ticket.

The police handed the boy over to the Immigration Service on Monday.

The young man jumped onto a Thalys train just before departure around 7:00 a.m. on Friday morning. He locked himself in the bathroom and did not respond to Thalys employees or the police's calls to come out. After the attack on a Thalys train on the same route a few weeks ago, the police decided to rather err on the side of caution and closed down a large part of the station until the situation has been resolved.

The station was closed for about six hours while a SWAT team talked the boy out of the bathroom and the Explosive Ordnance Disposal squad examined his belongings for any dangerous substances. Nothing dangerous was found.

The Rotterdam Central Station closure caused major havoc with train traffic across the Netherlands, with many trains being cancel or rerouted.

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