THE Malaysian police have launched “comprehensive” investigations to trace the source behind a series of bomb threats on schools which forced students and staff to be evacuated at various places in the country today.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the investigations are being conducted under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for improper use of online facilities.
He said the police received a total of 19 reports from government, private, and international schools on the threats.
The threats were made from two email accounts under the user ID “Taktstorer” using email provider beeble.com’s platform.
Razarudin said “Taktstorer” is a German word used to refer to a “disruptor of peace”.
Selangor reported seven incidences of this, Kuala Lumpur (five), Johor (three), Penang (two), and Perak and Negri Sembilan (one each).
“The Royal Malaysian Police views seriously any form of bomb threat and will take immediate action to investigate any threat without fail,” he said in a statement today.
He gave assurances on the security of students and teachers throughout the country.
“Comprehensive investigations will continue to be undertaken on this matter,” he stressed.
Razarudin said the police took swift action with cooperation from the schools to vacate their premises as soon as they were alerted about the emails.
“For their safety, the evacuation of the students to safe locations was done immediately with the help of the Fire and Rescue Department,” he said.
“They were taken to assembly points stipulated by the respective schools before the students were allowed to return home.”
Same threat sent to Jamaica schools
A meticulous “security flushing” exercise was then undertaken by police experts to trace bombs at each location. However, no threat was detected.
“In this case, investigations found the threat to be false and there is no evidence of risks posed by a bomb at any of the schools as was alleged,” he said.
Razarudin said the two emails that were used to transmit the threats were newly created.
The original content of the email was in English, and it was translated to Malay using a translation app.
The same email content had been sent to 70 schools in Jamaica on November 12 from the same email service provider.
“The ongoing investigation will look at whether the incidents in Malaysia are linked to what happened in Jamaica,” he said.
It is believed that the hoax has been masterminded by a problematic individual who may have experienced abuse and neglect during childhood but has the expertise in computer technology to protect his identity, Razarudin added. – The Vibes, November 21, 2023.
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