Barcelona airport: Hapless ‘attackers’ smash car into virtually empty terminal amid coronavirus lockdown
TWO men have been arrested after they rammed a car into Barcelona’s El Prat airport.
The two Albanian men were arrested by Mossos d’Esquadra (the local police) at around 5am this morning at the virtually deserted airport which was in lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and no one was injured.
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Explosive experts have already ruled out the car contained any sort of dangerous materials.
The Catalan police have opened an investigation to determine what the men’s objectives were for attacking the Terminal 1 building.
A terrorist attack has not been ruled out.
The two men drove a Renault Megane through one of the revolving doors at the terminal building but because of the coronavirus pandemic and the Catalan capital effectively on lockdown the airport is not operating.
Mossos chief Eduard Sallent said “one of them made an Islamist-type proclamation”.
The arrested men are said to have shown signs of being under the influence of narcotics, according to , with one of the men needing medical attention and was taken to hospital.
Both Sallent and the Interior Minister Miquel Buch said it was too early to determine the intentions of the two men and the investigation so far had not found they had any links to any terrorist organisation.
The incident occurred just a few hours after the terminal was disinfected by troops of the Military Emergency Unit (UME).
Barcelona is currently in the middle of a lockdown due to the coronavirus with the streets of the city largely deserted with only certain shops, such as supermarkets and dry cleaners, allowed to open.
British tourists in Spain have been urged to come home as soon as possible after it was announced that all hotels were due to be closed down.
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The Foreign Office said previously: “The Spanish government have confirmed that all hotels will close in Spain from Tuesday March 24.
“We therefore advise British travellers in Spain to contact their tour operator or airline as soon as possible, to arrange their return journey home before this date.”
No further details were released about how so many tourists are expected to get back to the UK when airports are currently closed.
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