German Federal Police have warned the media that they are seriously looking at the prospect of drone-based terror attacks at the Euro 2016 football tournament.
The German Federal Police (BKA) are warning that potential terror attacks at the upcoming Euro 2016 football tournament may not be in the same mold as previous massacres as in Paris or Brussels.
The BKA says that there is a sufficient threat from unmanned aerial drones that they are looking into their own precautions ahead of the event which is to begin Friday in France. A BKA spokesman said, “Conceivable scenarios in which drones could be used range from disturbances of events and general criminal use for reconnaissance, up to possible terrorist attacks, including at major events,” Hanover-based HAZ reports.
A central office has been set up by the BKA where they are to check and monitor the market for drones, “and to pool knowledge at the state and federal levels for the detection and prevention of drones,” the spokesman said. The spokesman claims that the findings of the office will allow the BKA to properly assess the potential dangers of drones in terror attacks and also for the safety of the public in general against criminals who may use drones to commit crimes.
One of Germany’s top football clubs, Bayern Munich, is already talking with the arms company Rheinmetall regarding defence precautions. The company is looking to sell the team electromagnetic pulse defence equipment that would short out the electronics of drones rendering them inoperable.
Media director of Bayern Munich, Markus Hörwick, refused to comment to German media on any potential purchases saying only that fans and the general public could “be sure that we go about our duties at major events very carefully”.
It is thought that similar technology will be employed by the French police for Euro 2016 and that all ten stadiums involved in the tournament will be equipped with drone defensive measures. One of the first matches of the event between France and Romania is to be held at the same stadium in Paris that saw a suicide bomber blow himself up in November.
In April, French police role played terror attacks on the tournament simulating a sarin gas attack and an attack by a gunman in the same vain as the Paris attacks. According to intelligence sources, Islamic State are planning on targeting the event. French president François Hollande has announced that “all necessary measures” will be afforded to prevent any potential disruption.
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