Bomb alert in Trani, investigation for terrorism: schools closed and trains stopped after the discovery of a briefcase and two tickets in the stations

It was a briefcase that triggered the bomb alarm this morning, Monday 25 March, in Trani station. The consequence was the blocking of railway traffic between Bari and Barletta. Some travelers found the small suitcase around 6.30am: it contained a dozen bottles with a liquid, a mobile phone and some tangled cables. The Bari DDA has opened a file, currently against unknown persons, to clarify the bomb threat. From what we understand, a district crime, for example terrorism, is conceivable.

But it wasn’t just this that agitated the first hours of the day because, again in the Trani station, a note was also hung with threats to public order and an (incorrect) signature in Arabic announcing the presence of a bomb in an unspecified school in the city: “We will fight to the end, there are biological devices.”

photo ">

The alarm in Trani and Barletta

These are some details that emerged following the investigative activity and checks for the risk of attacks in schools and along the Barletta-Bari railway line. What was placed in the bag “was made with the appearance of a bomb: whether it was a real or fake bomb is not known for now, but it is not a child’s prank”, he said Romeo Gallo, provincial commander of the firefighters of the Barletta-Andria-Trani province. Tests will be carried out on the material contained in the ampoules in the laboratories of the zooprophylactic institute of Foggia. “What might look like and which closely resembles the device announced as biological is now safe”, continued Gallo, explaining that “until analyzes are carried out on the material inside the containers, we will not have certainty”.

photo ">

So, at dawn, after the discovery of the note, the mayor sent a voice message Amedeo Bottaro ordered the closure of schools. Then in the late morning, at the end of the procedures that gave negative results within the schools, the reopening was ordered: the mayor “ordered the temporary closure order to cease to be effective”.

But that is not all. Other checks were carried out in the morning by the police due to a similar message that was found in the immediately following hours at the Barletta station. Where at 12 an area of ​​Piazza Conteduca was closed off due to a suspicious package found on the stairs of a building, at number 25.

photo ">

Bari Palese

Also in the Bari-Palese station, the discovery of another note was reported announcing the presence of a bomb not only in the railway yard but also in a school in the neighborhood north of Bari. The news spread rapidly through word of mouth in the chat of the parents of the Duca D’Aosta primary school, which is located just a few tens of meters from the station. Thus there were numerous family members who, ahead of the daily timetable, decided to let the students leave the classroom early. A real collective psychosis would have been unleashed which was fueled by the chats. But from the switchboard of the school complex they reassured: “There was no evacuation.” The police, together with the school director Angelo Panebianco, have in fact carried out the necessary investigations and nothing anomalous was found. In the mothers’ group we read: “We want to reassure everyone, before someone gives you screenshots from some online newspaper”.

And drag

Rail traffic is gradually resuming on the Bari-Pescara line, in the section between Bari Centrale and Barletta previously suspended due to checks by the police. Since 6.30 am, regional and long-distance, high-speed and intercity trains have suffered partial and total cancellations and delays.

Trenitalia, around 1pm, announced that “regional and long-distance, high-speed and intercity trains are suffering partial and total cancellations and delays currently exceeding 300 minutes”. Trenitalia has provided for the full refund of the ticket for those who cancel the trip or alternatively the possibility of rescheduling it.