JALANDHAR, Dec 15 — At least 11 schools in Jalandhar received bomb threat emails on Monday, prompting authorities to shut campuses early and launch searches, police officials said.
Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal and Commissioner of Police Dhanpreet Kaur said the threats appeared to be hoaxes, but security agencies were treating the matter seriously.
“There is no need to panic,” Aggarwal and Kaur said in a joint statement issued around 1 p.m. “So far, 11 schools have reported receiving threatening emails. An FIR has been registered by our cybercrime teams, and the origin of these emails is being traced.”
The first schools to report the threats were St. Joseph’s Convent School, IVY World School and Sanskriti KMV School. Eight more schools later informed police about receiving similar emails, officials said.
Police teams rushed to the schools shortly after information began coming in around 10 a.m., Kaur said. Bomb detection and disposal squads were deployed, and additional personnel were called in from the Punjab Armed Police complex as a precaution.
“Bomb sabotage teams have been pressed into service to thoroughly check the premises,” Kaur said.
School authorities closed campuses around noon and informed parents of early dispersal through WhatsApp messages. To prevent panic, details of the threats were not shared with students until they had left school.
In a message to parents, St. Joseph’s Convent School said, “The school premises have been thoroughly inspected by the authorities concerned, and no threat or danger has been detected. As a precautionary measure, we are sending the children home early.”
Police said the emails received by the schools were in the same format and appeared similar to recent threat messages reported in Amritsar.
