It could almost be the plotline of an international suspense thriller, but the stakes could not have been more real in Paris, France's centuries-old capital city, in the late night hours leading into the weekend.
Authorities say they foiled what's being termed a terror plot outside a branch of major banking titan, Bank of America, overnight from Friday into Saturday morning. And it was their bonne chance (good luck) that the suspect made a major slip up that allowed police to catch him mere seconds before he planned to set off an explosive device.
Another lucky break: since the would-be bomber or bombers were active at such a late hour, no one was inside the bank at the time. No employees were reported as injured in the attack plot.
France24 reported:
French police stopped an apparent bomb attack outside a US bank in Paris early Saturday when they arrested a man about to set off a homemade explosive device, sources close to the case said.
The incident occurred around 3:30am (0130 GMT) in front of a Bank of America building in the chic 8th arrondissement, a couple of streets from the Champs-Elysees.
Police grabbed the man just after he placed a device, made of five litres of liquid believed to be fuel and an ignition system, one of the sources said.
The report continued, saying that a second person of interest, who was seen running from the scene when the other man was captured, is still at-large and being sought by French authorities.
France24 cites reporting from the Le Parisien outlet on the nature of the explosive device:
The device consisted of a five-litre container filled with an unidentified liquid and an explosive charge made of about 650 grams of powder, Le Parisien added. It was secured and handed over to forensic experts from the Paris police laboratory, it reported.*
Meanwhile, the suspect whom police have in cutody is reportedly already talking:
According to a police source, the suspect said he had been recruited via the Snapchat app to carry out the bombing in exchange for the sum of 600 euros ($692). When the patrolling officers arrested him, he was about to ignite the device with a lighter.
A separate police source told AFP that while he was placing the charge, the accomplice stepped back, apparently to take a photo or video of the crime with his mobile phone.
France's interior minister, Laurent Nunez, reacted to the terror-related event in an X post, heaping praise on the law enforcement officers who took down the suspect before he could commit "a violent action of a terrorist nature last night in Paris."
CBS News spoke to French prosecutors, the National Anti-Terrorist Prosecutor's Office, who shared a list of the potential charges, while confirming the event will be investigated as terrorism:
The office told CBS News it has opened an investigation into the charges of attempted arson or dangerous damage in connection with a terrorist enterprise, manufacture of an incendiary or explosive device in connection with a terrorist enterprise, possession and transport of an incendiary or explosive device with the intent to prepare dangerous damage, in connection with a terrorist enterprise and terrorist conspiracy.
The Paris police and France's domestic intelligence service are also investigating, the prosecutor's office said.
The CBS News story linked above included a comment from Bank of America:
Bank of America head of global media relations Jessica Oppenheim told CBS News that the company is "aware of the situation" and is "communicating with authorities."
Post updates in the comments.