November scare sends schools into a tizzy

THE third week in November left parents, children and school staff on edge after a wave of fake bomb threats swept through public, private and international schools throughout Malaysia.

The hoax, relayed via email, claimed the presence of explosive devices within the premises and it sparked a swift response from law enforcement agencies and school administrations.

Despite the bomb scare from Nov 21 to 23, the schools displayed remarkable calm and did not show any signs of panic during evacuation.

Bomb threat hoax in schools nationwide

On Nov 24, Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department (CID) shared the breakdown of 51 police reports on bomb threats across the states.

The breakdown showed Selangor having 18 reports, Kuala Lumpur (seven), Johor (six), Sarawak (five), Negeri Sembilan (three), Perak (three), Kedah (three), and Sabah (two).

In Sarawak, five schools namely three in Kuching and two in Miri, received the threats from three email accounts from Nov 21 to 23.

The affected institutions comprising two national schools, two private schools, and one international school, promptly reported the threats to the police.

Prompt evacuation, sweep of schools

Upon receiving the reports, police collaborated with the schools and ensured the swift evacuation of students by alerting their parents to pick up their children.

Once the schools were evacuated, police bomb squads were dispatched to the schools to cordon off the area to allow for investigations.

Security flushing was meticulously conducted at all corners of the premises and fortunately, no bombs were detected.

Investigations showed the email threats were fake, with no evidence supporting the alleged bomb risk in any of the schools.

Fake threats from newly created emails

Police found that the origins of the threatening emails to the schools nationwide, were newly created addresses ‘Taktstorer’ and ‘Takstorer’ on the Beeble.com email service provider.

According to Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Razarudin Husain, ‘Taktstorer’, meaning troublemaker/peace disruptor in German, had never been used for communication before these incidents.

He added that the original English text of the bomb scare email was later translated into Bahasa Malaysia using a translating application.

As for Sarawak’s case, police found that threats were also sent from three newly created email accounts – ‘Takstorrer’, ‘Tunzodev’, and ‘Tunzowashere’.

Students and teachers’ safety assured

Despite the frightening nature of the threats, police assured the public of students’ and teachers’ safety.

They also committed to treat any threat seriously and to conduct thorough investigations into the cases.

So far, a total of 10 investigation papers have been opened nationwide under Section 507 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998.

Section 507 of the Penal Code pertains to criminal intimidation by anonymous communication, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper use of network facilities.