Police raid in Germany over hundreds of threats to schools, stations

German police have searched properties across several states to investigate hundreds of emails threatening bomb attacks against schools, train stations and other public places, the Federal Criminal Police Office said on Tuesday.

The raids in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Hesse targeted four individuals, police and prosecutors said, including two juveniles.

The group is accused of "being responsible for hundreds of threatening emails with fake nationwide bomb threats against schools, main railway stations, shopping centres and other urban and public facilities."

In hundreds of the cases, the threatening emails triggered police security operations.

According to prosecutors, the aim of the emails was to "disturb the public peace by threatening to commit criminal offences ... to trigger the greatest possible number of police operations and to create the greatest possible uncertainty among the population."

Officials said the group formed online in a closed messaging group called "Pig meet-up."

Among the incidents linked to the group were the evacuation of a shopping centre in the city of Essen, the lockdown of the Neunkirchen railway station and the closure of a school in Bad Hersfeld, all in 2024.

"Although no damage occurred as a result of the criminal acts, the evacuation measures in Germany caused immense property damage in the high five-figure range," officials said. In addition, the operations in schools in particular caused psychological stress, they added.