end of the intervention at Lille Europe station, evacuated due to a false terrorist alert in a TGV

The station was shut down for just over two hours. Shortly after 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday July 19, a police operation was carried out in a TGV that arrived at Lille Europe station, the Nord prefecture confirmed to franceinfo. The sector, which includes shops, was completely locked by security cordons, before the police put an end to this intervention, a little before noon.

Contacted by franceinfo, the Nord prefecture confirmed a “operation of the police services concerning a lifting of doubt at the Lille Europe station”. For its part, the SNCF adds that Lille Flandres station, another terminal in downtown Lille, was also briefly evacuated before being reopened. “Some of the traffic [ferroviaire] is transferred to this station”specifies the group to franceinfo.

Several bus lines circulating in the area remain diverted. The Lille-Europe metro station is “again served by the metro and tram”said on Twitter the Ilévia network manager. For its part, the SNCF confirms to franceinfo a reopening of the station and a gradual resumption of traffic.

Two people arrested

The operation was triggered after the report of a terrorist risk linked to a threatening individual on board this TGV Paris-Lille, learned France Télévisions from police sources. The Raid carried out identity checks car by car, while a demining team intervened, according to these same sources.

The North prefecture then declared that two people were arrested after the station was evacuated. A man was arrested by the Raid, suspected of having launched a false attack alert. The other person arrested is a woman, present at his side in this Paris-Lille train, “presumably his companion”, according to the sub-prefect of Roubaix. During a press briefing, the latter clarified that the motivations of the arrested man are, for the time being, not known. France Bleu Nord claims that the couple “made believe in this terrorist threat for fear of missing his train”.