McDonald’s customers hoping to treat themselves to an Egg McMuffin were instead startled to find a gas canister at the fast food chain. The restaurant was evacuated following the discovery, which police say likely contained an “ignition device.”
Customers found the gas canister at a McDonald’s in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighborhood at around 9am local time on Thursday. It was connected to a cable.
Customers were quickly evacuated while explosives experts were called in to examine the device.
Aktuell Polizeieinsatz wg. eines verdächtigen Gegenstandes in #Kreuzberg Wrangelstr. voll gesperrt.
Unsere Spezialisten des #LKA am Ort
^tsm— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) June 29, 2017
Two hours later, at around 11am, police tweeted that specialists had disarmed the device. Fire services also ventilated the restaurant “due to the high concentration of gas there.”
Der Gegenstand wurde von Kriminaltechnikern gesichert. Die Ermittlungen hat der Staatsschutz aufgenommen.
Die Wrangelstraße ist wieder frei.— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) June 29, 2017
Police also tweeted that investigators believe the canister was armed with an “ignition device.”
Nach Einschätzung unseres Staatsschutzes handelt es sich bei dem Gegenstand offenbar um eine Gasflasche mit Zündvorrichtung.
— Polizei Berlin (@polizeiberlin) June 29, 2017
Bild reported that the cable attached to the canister had been reeled out to the parking lot behind the restaurant.
“A signal would have been enough to blow the whole restaurant into the air. We assume this was an attempt at an attack,” a police source told the German tabloid, as quoted by The Local.
State security authorities have now taken over the investigation, according to Spiegel.
