More than a thousand schools in Scotland, at least 300 in Northern Ireland and several hundred in Ireland —including nearly 400 in the historic province of Munster, which covers the southwest of the island— have received false bomb alerts this Wednesday, in a situation similar to that experienced in Italy, where more than 6,000 schools were the target of threatening messages on the same day.
In Scotland, around a thousand schools spread across different areas of the country —including the capital, Edinburgh, and the city of Glasgow— have been targeted with "threatening messages" that authorities have already classified as "rumors", according to what a spokesperson for Police Scotland said, quoted by the public broadcaster STV.
"Our investigations have determined that there is nothing to suggest that they pose a credible threat or that there is a wider threat to the public," the police representative stressed, adding that the force has concluded that "there is no need to evacuate the schools or to prevent children from attending class based solely on the content of the emails".
At the same time, the Cybercrime and Fraud Unit of Police Scotland is carrying out "an exhaustive investigation to determine the origin of the messages", the same spokesperson indicated, specifying that officers are "working with law enforcement forces across the United Kingdom and internationally".
In Northern Ireland, authorities have reacted along the same lines to threats sent to "more than 300 schools", according to a statement from the Northern Ireland Police, which refers to "similar emails" to those detected in Scotland.
"According to investigations and the information gathered to date, the police believes that this email, originating outside the United Kingdom, is a hoax," the force said, making clear that "the investigations continue".
Similarly, numerous schools across the rest of the island of Ireland —including centers in the capital of the Republic, Dublin— have received email messages with false bomb warnings. Most of the cases are concentrated in the historic province of Munster —formed by the counties of Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford— where more than 400 emails of this type have been counted.
"The Garda Síochána (Irish Police) has knowledge of a generic communication that was sent to several educational centers on Wednesday, November 11," a spokesperson for the body said, who emphasized that "this threat is not credible and does not advise any educational center to evacuate," according to the Irish digital newspaper The Journal. This outlet also points out that officers from the Garda Intelligence service are taking part in the investigation that has been opened.
The Irish Ministry of Education has stated that it is "aware" of these threats and that it remains in contact with the security forces "at a higher level in relation to this incident". Following the recommendation that "it is not necessary to evacuate," the department has urged schools that received the threatening email "to get in touch with the emergency services by calling 999 and to follow the instructions of the Garda Síochána".