Police detain 39-year-old man accused of sending dozens of threatening emails, including a plot against a first-grade class

Police have taken a 39-year-old man into custody after he allegedly sent a minimum of 36 threatening and alarm-raising emails to police headquarters in Prague and the Central Bohemian Region. The communications included a claim of an attack on a primary-school class, with a threat to kill the entire group of first-graders, as well as threats directed at medical staff, university students and a larger population in central Prague.

The most serious alert, reporting an explosion at the historic Orloj, led to emergency services sealing off the area and evacuating about 650 individuals for a safety inspection. The suspect was apprehended on a train arrival in Prague and charged with offenses of violence against a group and an individual, plus the dissemination of false alarms. A psychiatric evaluation found no mental disorder that would exempt him from criminal responsibility, and similar behavior was noted in previous years. Convictions could carry up to three years in prison.