Bomb threats in Victoria and New Zealand: Several schools receive threatening calls

Multiple schools received bomb threats in Victoria and New Zealand on Thursday, and henceforth, they were immediately evacuated.

In Victoria, as of now, it is not confirmed as to how many schools have been evacuated. However, the police said that the schools impacted were not limited to just one area. According to radio station 3AW, three schools were evacuated at the minimum, including Traralgon Primary School of Gippsland and St Mary's Primary School of Myrtleford. The schools reportedly received bomb threats over the phone.

“There is no information to suggest this event is related to a previous incident,” a police spokesperson told Fairfax Media. However, he could not exclude the possibility of the same.

On the other side, in New Zealand, it is suspected that the bomb threats in schools originated from overseas. “It is believed, based on the information available to us at this time, that today's calls may be similar to those received earlier this year, which inquiries indicated originated overseas. We should make it clear that while such calls may display a New Zealand number, they can still be originating from overseas,” the police said in a statement. Schools in Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Gisborne, Masterton, Palmerston North and Christchurch have recieved bomb threats, reportedly.

A similar incident took place in May earlier this year. Multiple schools were evacuated after threatening calls in Victoria. But later it turned out to be a hoax. The police then said that the calls were “designed to cause disruption and attract media attention.”

A few days back, a case of bomb threat was reported by a Mercedes dealer in Victoria, who received a call about bomb being present in one of the vehicles. Thereafter, the area was searched with the help of explosive sniffing dogs but nothing was found. The police later suspected that it was also a hoax call.