Hundreds of schools across England have received a series of hoax bomb threats, causing closures up and down the country.
The hoaxes are believed to be have originated in the US, and Humberside police said more than 400 different schools and colleges across the country had received emails “claiming a device has been planted and demanding cash”, The Guardian reports.
“The emails inform the school that a bomb has been placed on the grounds and will be detonated if they don’t hand over cash,” Northumbria Police said in a tweet.
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Det Supt Tony Cockerill, of Humberside police, said: “We have been liaising with our counter-terrorism colleagues across the country and it is not believed that the threats are credible.
“We have spoken to all schools who have contacted us, reassured them that there is no need to evacuate and offered them security advice.”
The perpetrators used the email to threaten schools by attempting to extort $5,000 (£3,599) from them, claiming they would detonate a bomb if their request was not met.
In London, some schools were evacuated after receiving what the Metropolitan police described as “malicious communications”.
One student in Bristol told the Bristol Post: “We are in the middle of a lockdown. We haven’t been told anything by the teachers or police, but they are searching our bags. All of the other year groups are affected. We were told there were a number of incidents in Bristol this morning...
“We are scared and confused and have no idea what is going on.”
