Monaco's Parquet Général, the principality's Prosecutor General's office, issued a press release on Wednesday confirming that a foreign national was intercepted in Monaco on Wednesday morning and placed in police custody for verification purposes, before being released early in the afternoon. The statement gives no further detail on the person's identity or their connection, if any, to the case, and does not describe them as a suspect.
The update comes two days after a bomb attack outside a residential building in Monaco on Monday evening, which the prosecutor's office has classified as an attempted assassination. According to Wednesday's statement, the investigation continues very actively with the support of French authorities. The 13 year old who was injured in the blast has now been able to be questioned in France, but the office says the other two people injured remain unable to be interviewed.
The condition of the person who was in absolute emergency following the blast has not stabilised, and their prognosis remains life threatening, the prosecutor's office said. Monaco has not officially named any of those injured, though the victims have been widely reported to be Ukrainian born businessman Vadim Ermolaev, his partner Anna Nasobina, and their 13 year old son.
Examination of all sealed evidence recovered from the scene is ongoing, the statement said, particularly material relating to the explosive device itself and efforts to identify the person who placed it at the building's entrance. Monaco's Direction de la Sûreté Publique, the principality's public security service, remains heavily mobilised across multiple lines of inquiry, according to the release. The prosecutor's office said further statements would follow if there are new developments in the investigation or changes to the procedural framework that could be made public.
Swiss broadcaster RTS, reporting separately on Wednesday, cited Monaco's Minister of State, Christophe Mirmand, and Prosecutor Stéphane Thibault confirming that French and Monégasque police remain engaged in a coordinated search for the suspect, who fled on foot toward the neighbouring French town of Beausoleil after the explosion. Thibault has said Ermolaev is not the subject of any investigation in Monaco and is not, to the authorities' knowledge, sought by any foreign authority, while Mirmand has said there is no indication of a specific threat having been made against the family beforehand.
Blue Coast News will continue to follow this story and will update this report as further official statements are issued.