The Paris 2024 Olympic Games, scheduled to take place in five months' time, are facing an unexpected jolt: the theft of a computer and USB sticks containing plans for securing the event. A Paris municipal employee reported the theft this Monday, February 26, 2024, prompting an immediate police investigation, BFMTV reports.
The incident, which occurred as the 56-year-old engineer was boarding his train for Creil (Oise) from Paris'Gare du Nord station, quickly drew the attention of the authorities. The stolen bag contained a business computer and two USB sticks containing sensitive information. Among them were detailed security plans for the roads and traffic during the Games.
The first key, protected by encryption, contained the strategies planned by the mayor's office for the deployment of some 2,000 agents, the majority of them municipal police officers, throughout the Olympic period. The second key, unencrypted, contained no sensitive data, according to the Prefecture de Police.
The theft took place between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. while the train was parked on platform 18 of the Gare du Nord. The employee claims to have placed his bag in a compartment above his seat before noticing that it had disappeared as he was about to change trains.
Investigators from the regional transport safety authority have been mobilized and are currently analyzing video-protection footage from the Gare du Nord station.
