Prague, Nov 19 (CTK) – An Arab group planned a terrorist attack on the Sazka Arena (now O2 Arena) stadium in Prague during the ice hockey world championships organised in April and May 2004, daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes yesterday, citing intelligence sources.
Though Czech government representatives keep assuring the Czech public after the recent terrorist attacks in Paris that the country is not facing any imminent terrorist threat, Prague escaped a similar tragedy at least once in the past, the paper writes.
“A group of Arabs wanted to fire an anti-tank missile into the building and cause panic, due to which people would be trampled to death,” a source from the secret services who requested anonymity told LN.
A former intelligence officer who occupied a senior post at the time confirmed the information about the marred terrorist threat, the paper writes.
Jan Subert, spokesman for the BIS counter-intelligence that fights against terrorism, said he cannot comment on the information.
However, the BIS annual report for 2004 mentions this terrorist threat.
The report writes that BIS received information on a possible preparation of a terrorist attack against the Sazka Arena and it identified and checked the suspects. The report concludes that the information on the attack was not confirmed.
But such an attack really might have been planned, the paper writes.
The terrorists wanted to use the RPG-75 one-shot anti-tank grenade, with a shooting range of 750 metres. Three these weapons were found in the bed of the Vltava River near Palacky Square in the central part of Prague in October 2004, LN writes.
BIS had shown interest in the weapons then, it adds.
Police experts concluded that the three anti-tank grenades were functional and that they had not been part of the Czech military´s equipment.
In connection with the revealed anti-tank weapons, the secret services monitored three Syrian men and one man from Egypt.
The RPG-75s were produced by the Czech firm Zeveta from the 1970s to the 1990s. In 2001, these anti-tank weapons were found near the Prague airport, but it is a mystery how they got to the place, even though a special group was set up to investigate the case, the paper writes.
It remains unclear why the attack was not carried out on the Sazka Arena to which thousands of hockey fans came for each match during the world championship.
Security experts assume that the reinforced security measures that the Czech Republic adopted after al Qaeda´s train bombing in Madrid in March 2004 that claimed 191 lives.
There may be yet another explanation, however: the secret services might have traced the terrorists, LN writes.
A security expert told the paper that one may often decide not to use valuable pieces of information, in order not to reveal a source, for example. In such cases, the suspects are shown that the intelligence is monitoring them and they usually flee abroad, the expert said.
Secret services do not boast of their successes, LN writes.
kva/t/rtj
