Education Minister: At least 55 schools affected by bomb threats

At least 55 schools, including early childhood care facilities, primary schools and secondary schools received threatening e-mails on Friday, Minister of Education Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly has reported.

Eight schools from Tobago were targeted by the threats.

Gadsby-Dolly gave the figures during at an emergency media briefing at the Ministry of Education, St Vincent Street, Port of Spain, hours after initial reports of the threats which disrupted schools across the country.

She said the number of schools which received threats via e-mail were gradually increasing as staff at several schools have found the e-mail were sent directly to their spam folders.

Police confirmed that the threats which began circulating from as early as 7.30 am, affected schools in both Trinidad and Tobago, but did not find any suspicious devices.

Gadsby-Dolly condemned the threats, describing the actions as reckless and called on those involved to refrain from making these threats again in the future.

"I will really in the strongest terms condemn what happened today and I will appeal to those involved to not do this again to our children.

"This has happened before and could happen again and really the only thing we can do is do exactly what we did and allow the police to make those checks to ensure our students are safe which is why this is such an insidious action because it affects and disrupts our school.

"There is nothing the ministry can do to prevent this, we must at all times err on the side of caution for the safety of our children."

Senior police confirmed that officers from the Explosive Devices Unit from the police Special Branch were called along in with bomb sniffing dogs from the canine unit to search the schools.

One officer said this continued up to 1.30 pm on Friday.

Gadsby-Dolly said the threats would have disrupted CSEC Spanish oral examinations which would be rescheduled for Friday.

She said if investigations revealed students were behind the threats, they could also face disciplinary action from the Ministry of Education and possible police charges.

"There are repercussions that we can take and disciplinary action but this would be a criminal offence and so I will leave it up to the police to do their investigation.

"We will cross that bridge when we get to it."

Senior police said those involved in making the threats could be charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act, and other offences depending on what the investigation reveals.

Under Section 21 part two of the act, a person who makes a threat which he knows is false to induce another into thinking he will use a weapon of mass destruction is liable to imprisonment of up to 15 years, once convicted.

The incidents will be jointly investigated by the police Cyber Crime Unit and the divisional police officers where the schools are located.

Speaking with Newsday ACP Wayne Mystar of the Northern Division said he was generally pleased with the response of the authorities in relation to the threats and commended them and school staff for their assistance in maintaining order during the evacuations.

He said the police protocols in relation to terrorist threats were fully mobilised and said warned those responsible that their actions could constitute as serious offences.