New Delhi: Around 30 private schools received bomb threat emails in the city on Friday, marking the second such incident this week. This follows a similar occurrence on Dec 9 when 44 schools received hoax bomb threats.
Warning of potential explosions on Dec 13 and 14, the mails claimed “there are many explosives on your school premises” powerful enough to “destroy the buildings and harm people”. The message allegedly came from a darkweb group that cited vulnerabilities in school security, particularly the “similar start-to-end school timings” and inadequate checking of students’ bags at entry points.
The message read, “I am sure that you do not check your students’ bags frequently when they enter the school premises. The bombs are powerful enough to destroy the buildings and harm people. Dec 13 and 14, both days can be the day your school will face a bomb blast. On Dec 14, there is a scheduled parent-teacher meeting in some of the schools mentioned. Indeed it is a good chance and an advantage for the bombs to detonate.”
The sender threatened to detonate the bombs during the PTA meetings and sports day events, demanding that schools “reply to this email, otherwise the bombs will be detonated”.
According to a Delhi Fire Service officer, many schools made distress calls. Among there were Bhatnagar International School in Paschim Vihar at 4.21am, Cambridge School in Srinivaspuri at 6.23am, Delhi Public School in East of Kailash at 6.35am, South Delhi Public School in Defence Colony at 7.57am, Delhi Public School in Safdarjung Enclave at 8.02am and Venkateshwar Global School in Rohini at 8.29am.
Madhavi Goswami, principal, Cambridge School, recalled, “I was checking the mail routinely, saw the threat mail and informed police around 5.50am. Police assured us about proactive action and investigation. We informed parents that classes would be online today.”
Many institutions requested parents to collect their children and sent the students home. Delhi Police launched a comprehensive security operation in the affected schools, deploying bomb disposal squads, dog units, fire tenders and had ambulances on standby. Security personnel conducted thorough sweeps of the premises, with sniffer dogs searching classrooms, corridors and open areas. Bomb detection and disposal squad personnel used specialised equipment to scan for potential explosive devices while local police managed crowds of concerned parents.
A police officer said, “We conducted necessary checks in the schools and found nothing suspicious as of now.” Friday’s incident follows a larger scale threat in May when over 100 schools in Delhi-NCR received similar bomb threats via email, which proved to be hoaxes.
