Police nab suspect in China Carrefour bomb threat

The bomb threat resulted in rushed evacuation of Carrefour shopping centre.

Beijing: Police in southwest China have arrested a man suspected of threatening to bomb an outlet of French retail giant Carrefour in an extortion attempt, state media said on Sunday.

The bomb threat in the Yunnan provincial capital of Kunming resulted in the rushed evacuation of the crowded Carrefour shopping centre on Saturday afternoon, Xinhua news agency said.

No bombs were found, it said.

Police have arrested a man who allegedly telephoned the store and threatened to detonate two bombs hidden in the outlet if CNY 20,000 (USD 3,000) was not placed in a designated bank account by Saturday afternoon, the report said.

The incident follows a hostage-taking crisis at a Carrefour store in Kunming in November 2008, when a knifeman barricaded himself in a store office after slashing three shoppers and taking one person hostage.

It is not clear whether the latest incident took place in the same store.

In 2006, one person was injured after a bomb exploded at a Carrefour outlet in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen as part of an extortion bid.

The retail giant has had a presence in China for more than a dozen years, with well over 100 large-scale supermarkets and hundreds of discount hardware stores attracting over two million customers a day.

Bureau Report

Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.