Boksburg schools bomb threats: Tactical ploy to divert police attention?

Were the calls about bomb threats to schools across Boksburg yesterday morning done by criminals as a tactical ploy to divert police attention and resources?

That’s a possibility, according to a source inside the police, who believed that a cash-in-transit heist was planned for the same time period. However, official police spokespersons could not confirm or deny the suggestion.

Significant number of police deployed

What was clear was that significant numbers of police and vehicles were deployed to the area as a mass evacuation of pupils and staff was ordered following bomb threats to at least seven schools across the metro’s suburbs.

Witfield Primary, Concordia Primary School and Woodridge College count among the schools that were swept by the police and explosive experts. Reports indicate that no explosives were found.

More security

Local security companies and private emergency services assisted the stretched authorities to expedite the process.

Explosive experts visited Witfield Primary while The Citizen was on the scene, but officers declined to any questions about the situation.

The police action was called off mid-morning.

Robbery

An hour after the police called off the action, a robbery and shooting occurred at a retail store opposite school in Boksburg.

Around the same time, sources said, a truck looting incident was successfully halted by authorities on the R21 highway on the East Rand, close to the Good Hope Squatter Camp.

School personnel

When The Citizen approached the principal of Whitfield Primary for more information, he refused and said that he was not allowed to talk to the media, quickly locking a security gate between the journalist and the school’s administration offices before walking away. None of the school staff were prepared to speak to The Citizen either.

A principal of a Boksburg school that was not affected confirmed that various local community security forums sent out an alert to schools on the East Rand.

The principal said: “We stepped up security. “The school spent most of the day on high alert until we were advised that there was no longer a threat.”

The principal said that a flurry of concerned parents rushed to collect their children.

The police did not have a statement ready at the time of filing this story.

However, Mike van Wyk, whose Medicare24 team played a supporting role to authorities during the evacuation, said that it was a manic couple of hours and that the swift action of the police should be commended.

Exams disrupted

Local ward councillor Simon Lapping said that while speculation about the origin of the threat pointed toward children wanting to disrupt exams, it didn’t make sense.

He said: “Why would primary schools be targeted instead of high schools? It seems somewhat bizarre.”

Whether any of the instances in Boksburg were connected this morning is unclear.

But it all occurred during the same three-and-a-half-hour window. Between 9 and 11am.

Lapping questioned whether the threats could have been a hoax and the instances of crime, he suggested, just another day in South Africa.

He said: “We have seen irresponsible hoaxes like this before, but never on this scale.

“Should this be the case, the individual or individuals responsible should be brought to book and face the consequences of wasting state resources, and in particular, resources that keep the community safe.” – news@citizen.co.za

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