Bomb threat concept Image: iStock
On Saturday, a member of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) received unsettling information regarding a potential bomb threat involving a Grade 10 pupil from a school in Phoenix, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
The information surfaced after the 17-year-old shared images of an explosive device with his friends.
According to the 17-year-old’s friends, the teenager had plans to blow up a car. He claimed to have ordered the bombs online.
“I already have three. We could have played Call of Duty in real life,” said the boy in texts sent to his friend on WhatsApp, referring to the popular video game series.
He further shared a picture of one of the “bombs”. “Here’s one of it,” he added.
The gravity of the situation prompted the reaction officers to quickly gather information on the pupil’s location and identity him. However, further information about him was retained for safety purposes.
According to RUSA the authorities, including the South African Police Service (Saps) at King Shaka International Airport, Verulam Saps, and the Umhlali Saps dog unit collaborated to address the threat.
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“The Umhlali Saps Dog Unit made contact or provided details for bomb experts,” said the unit on their Facebook page.
Furthermore, the unit called a colonel from the Saps provincial office in KZN, with whom they provided with the information and images received by one of RUSA’s members.
“After a brief investigation, the colonel made contact with the reaction officer and established that the image of the bombs that were circulated were downloaded from a website. The identical picture was of a bomb replica designed to be used on an Airsoft game. The website was forwarded to the reaction officer by the explosive specialist,” said RUSA.
While the bomb threat turned out to be a false alarm, the pupil’s actions can have severe repercussions, both legally and personally.
Speaking to The Citizen, RUSA spokesperson Prem Balram said the 17-year-old’s parents were not yet informed of the matter.
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“The bomb disposal unit said they would handle the matter. This is because the precise location of the matter was unknown. His friend who goes to the same school with him ratted on him,” said Balram.
“Crime intelligence is not taking the matter lightly, the child did not say whose car he was going to bomb. However, he did say in a message that he was going to bomb a car,” he added.
The Citizen has reached out to the police for comment. The article will be updated once a response has been received.
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