Monaco identifies suspect in parcel bombing: prosecutors

A suspect has been identified in the investigation into a parcel bombing that seriously wounded a sanctioned Ukraine-born multi-millionaire and two others in Monaco, the principality's prosecutor's office said Thursday.

"An arrest warrant has been issued for the suspect, who will be the subject of an Interpol Red Notice from this evening," the prosecutor's office added.

France's Le Figaro daily and BFMTV said the suspect, who was captured on CCTV wearing a black fisherman's hat, is believed to be a woman who tried to pass off as a man.

Monaco's public prosecutor, Stephane Thibault, did not address this in his statement but announced a press briefing for shortly before noon on Friday.

He praised Monaco's police forces and "effective international criminal cooperation, both police and judicial," which made it possible "to identify, in a particularly short time, the person suspected of having carried out the attack."

A judicial investigation for attempted murder and several other charges has been opened and entrusted to three investigating judges.

On Monday evening, an individual left a package in the entrance hall of a small apartment building just steps from the French border.

Shortly afterwards, an explosive device went off in this hall just as three residents -- a couple and a 13-year-old -- were coming in, and they were injured.

The Monaco authorities have not confirmed the victims' identities, but according to consistent sources, the attack targeted Vadym Yermlaiev, 58, a wealthy businessman originally from Ukraine and now a Cypriot national, as well as his partner and his son.

The latter was admitted in non-critical emergency condition to the Lenval children's hospital in Nice, while the two adults, whose lives were in danger, were taken to Nice University Hospital (CHU).

On Wednesday, the man was no longer in a life-or-death situation, but the woman's condition had not yet stabilised.

A resident of Monaco since at least 2021, Yermolaiev has been subject since December 2023 to sanctions in Ukraine over his business activities in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia.

Kyiv alleges he had an alcohol business in Russia-annexed Crimea -- paying taxes to Moscow even after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.

A source told AFP that people would have been lining up to gun the construction magnate down in Dnipro, the industrial Ukrainian city where he made his wealth.

The bombing has sent shockwaves in Monaco, an ultra-secure microstate near Nice which is a playground of the world's ultra-rich

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)