Explosions for financial gain

German prosecutors have accused a man with Russian citizenship of attacking a Borussia Dortmund bus in an attempt to make money on their shares.

near the bus of the local football club Borussia occurred On April 11, 2017, in the German city of Dortmund , three small explosions . The team was heading to the Champions League match with the French Monaco, but due to the incident the game was postponed by one day. Of the entire team, only one player was injured, who broke his left arm.

Initially, the explosions were called a terrorist attack, but this version was soon abandoned. On April 21, first the media and then the prosecutor’s office reported the detention of a man with Russian citizenship on suspicion of organizing the attack. According to investigators, he staged an attack on Borussia in order to make money from the fall in the club's shares in the event of the death of players.

From Islamists to Sergei V.

On April 12, police found three confession notes in which the attacker explained his actions with “radical Islamist motives.” The perpetrator considered himself to be one of the extremist groups and called the explosions “a call for responsibility for the war against the Islamic State in Syria.”

Later, unknown persons sent a note with similar content to local publications Tagesspiegel and WELT. The author demanded that Germany withdraw troops from Syria and close the German Ramstein airbase, where NATO and US forces are located.

Despite the statements in the letters, German media suggested that the attacker had decided to deliberately mislead the police by calling himself a terrorist. Later, specialists from the German prosecutor's office said that they also doubted the veracity of what was written, because the notes contained “many errors and inconsistencies.”

On April 21, the German publication Der Spigel reported that on suspicion of organizing explosions, employees of the GSG-9 special forces detained 28-year-old Sergei V. According to media reports, the prosecutor's office found him on a tip from one of the banks, whose employees suspected Sergei of trying to profit from the incident. The attacker tried to injure or kill football players in order to make money from the fall in the shares of the Dortmund club.

According to Bild, Sergei V. was searched for in several cities in the federal state of Baden-Wüntenberg. The suspect was captured while on his way to work in Tübingen.

Later, representatives of the German federal prosecutor's office officially announced the detention of Sergei V., who has German and Russian citizenship. At the same time, the explosions in Dortmund are no longer considered a terrorist attack: Sergei has already been charged with “attempted murder, explosion and infliction of grievous bodily harm.”

A few hours later, Dortmund police chief Gregor Lange thanked the police and intelligence officers for their “professionalism” and also announced the likely capture of “that same” person.

Thirst for profit

The German prosecutor's office shared several details of the investigation. According to the department, on April 3, 2017, Sergey V. took out a loan. On the day of the explosions, he accessed the Internet from the IP address of the L'Arrivée hotel, where Borussia Dortmund stayed before the match. Then Sergey bought 15 thousand put options on shares of the German club. According to Bild, the deal cost him 78 thousand euros.

Put options are special exchange contracts that give the right to then sell one's assets (in this case, Borussia Dortmund shares) at a fixed price within a predetermined period. Sergei V. signed a contract until June 17, which means that if the shares of the football team fell before the summer, he could make a significant profit from the deal.

According to the prosecutor's office, if the players were seriously injured or died due to the explosion, Borussia's share price could have fallen significantly, and the suspect would have received a "multiple benefit." North Rhine-Westphalia Interior Minister Ralf Jager said that Sergei V. could have earned “millions.” However, the share price fell 2.5%.

The German club regularly stays at the L'Arrivée Hotel before matches, from where they travel to games. Sergey V. back in March booked a room in the same hotel for two dates at once: from April 9 to 13 and from April 16 to 20. This is due to the fact that at the time of booking he did not know on which day the Champions League game in Dortmund would take place (the draw for the 1/4 finals of the tournament took place on March 17). Bild also reported that the organizer of the explosions had already stayed at L'Arrivée from March 7 to 8.

According to Der Spiegel, upon entering the hotel, Sergei V. asked the hotel staff to change his room: he wanted the windows to face the road along which the bus was supposed to pass.

Failed attempt

Police confirmed that three metal pin bombs were used in the attack on the team's bus, which were placed at the exit of the hotel. Each of the charges, hidden in a hedge along the road, was located approximately 12 meters apart. In this case, the first and third bombs were attached near the ground, and the charge in the middle was at a height of approximately one meter.

At 19:15 local time, the team bus left the L'Arrivée hotel along its usual route. At the very beginning of the journey, all three bombs, which were activated remotely, went off synchronously near the bus.

Der Spiegel called the decision to plant the bomb at a height a “serious mistake” by Sergei V. The bomb exploded “too high” and did not cause much damage to the bus. Others worked “as planned.” The publication Bild noted that after the explosion, Sergei V. did not panic like the other guests, but ordered himself a steak in the hotel restaurant.

The police emphasized that remote explosions could only be organized by a person with extensive experience in electrical engineering. Moreover, in 2015, Sergey V. won an award from the university in electronics and business engineering.

The bus was not additionally reinforced - of all the protection, Borussia's main transport was equipped only with protective glass. However, they did not completely protect the players: some windows were broken by the explosion, and a sharpened pin was found in the headrest of one of the chairs. One of the pins was found 250 meters from the explosion site. As a result of the incident, Spanish defender Marc Bartra, who broke his radius and injured his wrist from shrapnel, was injured, as was a police officer.

The Borussia players expressed relief at the arrest of Sergei V. According to team captain Marcel Schmelzer, “for everyone on the bus that day, information about the arrest is very important, as it will greatly help overcome the experience.”