India: Multiple Bengaluru schools receive bomb threat emails, over 5,000 students evacuated

Multiple schools in southern India's Bengaluru received bomb threats via email on Friday (Dec 1), stoking an evacuation at as many as 15 schools.

Over 5,000 students are enrolled in the schools where the bomb threats were made.

The emails received on Friday were sent from various addresses by masking the IP address of origin, The Indian Express reported, while citing policesources.

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At the time of filing this report, police were searching all the schools which reported such threats. So far, nothing suspicious has been found.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayanand said: "Several schools have received threatening mail. The city is now on alert as per law enforcement. Even before, such calls were received by us but when we inspected, they all turned out to be fake calls. We have sent bomb squads everywhere. The probe will be conducted."

A message from the NEEV School to the parents stated on Friday (Nov 30):"We are encountering an unexpected situation at school today. The school has received a security threat from unknown sources. As we hold the safety of our children at utmost priority, we have decided to disperse the students immediately."

"Kids are being sent home as per the advice of the bomb squad. We are evaluating the threat...," the school message said.

Earlier this year, many schools in Bengaluru had received similar kinds of email threatsthat turned out to be hoax.

On April 8, 2022, as many as 16 schools in Bengaluru received hoax bomb threat emails between 11 am and 2.30 pm. The email read: "A very powerful bomb has been planted in your school, attention is not a joke, this is not a joke, a very powerful bomb has been planted in your school, immediately call the police and sappers, hundreds of lives may suffer including yours, do not delay, now everything is only in your hands."

(With inputs from agencies)