A PRIVATE school in Negri Sembilan was also hit by a bomb hoax, which forced its students and staff to immediately vacate its buildings yesterday.
Some 539 school students and 47 teachers were among those evacuated from the As-Sofa Islamic High School in Rembau. They gathered outside the school area while police carried out investigations.
Rembau district police chief Hazri Mohamad said the threat arrived in the school’s email account, in the same manner as the false threats received by several other schools in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Johor yesterday.
The email claimed there was an explosive device that had been planted around the school yesterday morning.
“As soon as they received the threatening email, the police, in cooperation with the fire department, took action by asking the school to vacate the premises while the investigation got underway.
“The Bomb Disposal Unit from the Negri Sembilan police headquarters continued to search for explosive elements in every block inside and outside the school premises but there were no explosives of any kind to be found.
“After a detailed inspection, we declared the area safe and instructed the students to enter their respective dormitories,” Hazri told reporters in Rembau.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain had said last night that the police received a total of 19 reports from government, private and international schools on bomb threats on schools.
The other schools that reported the fake threats were in Selangor (seven incidences), Kuala Lumpur (five), Johor (three), Penang (two), and Perak (one).
He 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.
The threats were made from two email accounts with the user name “Taktstorer” using email provider beeble.com’s platform.
Razarudin said “Taktstorer” is a German word used to refer to a “disruptor of peace”.
The original content of the email was in English, and it was translated to Bahasa Melayu 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 22, 2023.
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