On Tuesday April 11th, three bombs detonated on the bus of the Borussia Dortmund football team as it was on its way to a Champion’s League game at home against Monaco. Two people, including BVB defender Marc Bartra, were injured in the explosion, but fortunately there were no fatalities. Another “suspect device” was subsequently found on the bus.
Islamists Blamed
In the initial aftermath of the explosion, it appeared the investigative focus was on Islamist groups – in part due to the spate of attacks by ISIS-linked individuals in France and Germany over the past couple of years, but also due to three identical letters that were left at the scene. This letter was written in apparently non-native German and started with “In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful”; it demanded the withdrawal of German forces from recon operations in Syria and the closure of Ramstein Air Base.
A subsequent letter claiming responsibility for the attack came from the anti-fascist scene. However, for a number of reasons German investigators kept an open mind regarding the identity and motivation of the attacker, and refused to be drawn on any specific conclusions. No doubt their main reason for suspicion was that ISIS does not leave letters to claim its attacks – instead, they claim them via their “Amaq News Agency” such as with the most recent attack in Paris, frequently with a martyrdom video as additional evidence of their involvement. The terminology of the letter itself was odd too, missing terms and phrases commonly used in ISIS propaganda.
A 26 year old Iraqi man with strong ISIS links was detained, but subsequently German police concluded he was not connected to the attack (the man in question is still being held pending other charges). Following on from this, it seemed the intent was to frame Islamists for the attack, and the focus shifted to a possible far-right motive, perhaps related to “ultras” who have infiltrated Borussia Dortmund’s supporters.
False Flag Financial Attack
However, the arrest of “Sergej W.” on Friday April 21st has since shown all these theories to be wrong. Instead, a German-Russian national is alleged to have planted the explosives as part of an elaborate plot to profit from the fall in share prices in the club in the aftermath of the attack. Financial motivations for terrorism are not entirely unheard of, though they are quite rare, especially as a primary motivation as appears to be the case here. Terrorists have undertaken drug-dealing, hostage taking and bank-robbing to raise funds, and groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda do pay salaries to their fighters.
Individuals and groups like Carlos the Jackal and the Abu Nidal Organisation have also acted as “terrorists-for-hire” for other groups or nation-states. German police have stated that they believe Sergej W acted on his own, though it’s still not clear whether the bombs were created from material taken from German military stockpiles and, if so, how he acquired them.
Marc Simms is an occasional blogger for Proelium Law LLP. Marc holds a MLitt in Terrorism Studies and a Masters in International Relations, both from St Andrews. His particular interests are in emerging international security issues, unconventional warfare and terrorism.
Need advice?
If you’d like further information, or to discuss working with us, please get in touch
