Eight schools across Delhi receive hoax bomb threats

Police said all schools were immediately evacuated and the authorities were informed. Units of Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Services, bomb disposal squads were rushed to the schools to perform security checks.

Eight prominent schools across Delhi were evacuated on Thursday after they received bomb threats, which were declared a hoax after sweeping security checks. This comes a day after 13 schools in Gurugram as well as the Dwarka Courts received similar threats.

This comes a day after 13 schools in Gurugram as well as the Dwarka Courts received similar threats (Representative photo)

Police said Sardar Patel Vidyalaya (SPV) in Lodhi Estate, Loreto School in Delhi Cantonment, two branches of Mount Carmel School, in Dwarka’s Sector 23 and Anand Niketan, Don Bosco School in CR Park, Air Force Bal Bharati School on Lodhi Road, Birla Vidya Niketan and Amity School in Saket received threats over emails between 8:15 am and 9:30 am.

All schools were immediately evacuated and the authorities were informed. Units of Delhi Police, Delhi Fire Services, bomb disposal squads were rushed to the schools to perform security checks.

Senior police officers in New Delhi and south Delhi said the threat were sent to multiple schools via multiple emails. The threats were declared as a hoax by noon. “No suspicious items have been found in most of the schools. Cyber teams are tracking the source of the e-mails,” a police officer said.

Some schools resumed as usual after the security checks, including SPV.

“This morning, the school received a security threat. As a precautionary measure, the authorities were immediately informed and the bomb squad conducted a thorough inspection of the entire campus. We are relieved to inform you that the premises has been declared completely safe for use. Classes will continue as usual today,” SPV said in a statement issued to parents, seen by HT.

At several other schools, however, classes were cancelled.

Air Force Bal Bharti School issued a statement to parents that said school will be closed on Thursday from 10 am, without giving a reason, and that buses would be sent to drop students back home.

This comes a day after a bomb threat email received by the court’s administration department triggered a two-hour evacuation and security operation at Dwarka Courts complex, before the threat was declared a hoax. The same day at least 13 private schools in Gurugram reported receiving hoax bomb threat emails. Last week, several public and private schools in Noida reported receiving hoax bomb threat emails.

While no official figures have been shared, more than 500 incidents of hoax bomb threats to schools have been reported in the Capital over the past few years, with each instance, triggering mass searches and panic. In 2014, a school student, 17, was “traced” but never apprehended in relation to once such instance. No arrests have been made in any of these cases so far.