20 private schools get hoax bomb threats via emails in Chennai

CHENNAI: Hoax box threats were received at 20 private schools in Anna Nagar, Nolambur, Paruthipattu, and Pallikaranai via email on Wednesday night. Among them, four branches of a school in Chennai received threats via mail. Police sources said that the school management saw the emails only on Thursday morning. They alerted the local police and the bomb detection and disposal squad was dispatched to search the premises. A case has been registered and an inquiry is under way. Separate cases have been filed and a probe is underway to trace the origin of the mails. In February last year, 13 private schools in Chennai received hoax bomb threats through emails on the same day. The cyber crime wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in Chennai registered a case, but have not made any headway. The police said that the email service used by the sender was end-to-end encrypted and used virtual private networks, which made it difficult to track the sender.