Italy: 77 Schools Evacuated After New Round of Hoax Bomb Threats

( Breitbart )

A new wave of mass hoax bomb threats sent to thousands of Italian schools led to the evacuation of 77 education centers on Thursday, local outlets reported.

Thursday marked the second day in a row that thousands of school centers across Italy received a mass email containing false bomb threats. SkyTG24 reports that 3,778 schools received the threatening messages throughout Thursday, an amount that, while lower than the roughly 6,300 schools that received similar threats via email on Wednesday,

nevertheless led to the evacuation of 77 education centers — 36 of which resumed activities later on that day.

In addition to the nearly 3,800 schools, an email with similar bomb threats was sent to the Rome Supervisory Court during Thursday — however, the courthouse was not evacuated, and continued its regular operations throughout the day.

The back-to-back mass bomb threat hoax sent to Italian schools — in addition to the wave of false bomb threats that disrupted air traffic across Europe last week — prompted the Italian government’s Committee for the Security of the Republic (CISR) to outline a timeline on Thursday for the development of a new “common” operational protocol for handling alarm reports. Per SkyTG24,the new protocol, whose details are yet-to-be finalized as of Friday morning, will be applicable to all public administration institutions, including schools.

In the meantime, the Italian Education Ministry announced in an official press note that the government, in accordance to existing protocols, is advising that school buildings should not be evacuated if a new mass email containing similar threats is received — unless there is a concrete evidence that suggests the existence of a dangerous situation beyond the mere reception of the threatening message.

“This does not affect the Prefects’ authority to order evacuation measures should they have specific and concrete evidence indicating a situation of actual risk,” the text read.

“Therefore, schools, if they deem the conditions to be met, may provide the Prefect with jurisdiction over the area with any relevant information and details necessary for the required assessments.”

Per the public broadcaster Rai, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi stated during an interview that Italian authorities will emerge with “clarity, competence, and with the responsiveness that our security apparatus is already demonstrating these days.”

The Minister stressed that Italy is facing what he defined as a “strategy” that aims to create alarm and discredit institutions, not just in Italy, but in other European nations as well.

“This is precisely what we must prevent. Security remains our priority, but we must prevent those who spread these threats from imposing their own agenda on the lives of millions of people,” he said.

Piantedosi noted that while every report of a threat will be evaluated with the utmost care, a “generic” threat, like the ones sent to schools between Wednesday and Thursday should no longer make the evacuation of the centers a necessity.

“These are measures our security authorities have always taken, even before the recent incidents, to counter a myriad of false alarms whose sole purpose is to fuel fear,” the Minister explained.

“Today, however, the systematic use of these threatening tactics requires procedures that are even more widely agreed upon by all parties to ensure timely and proportionate responses,” he continued.

Piantedosi emphasized that, presently, it would be too “premature” to attribute responsibility to any entity or group in particular over the bomb hoaxes, as the corresponding investigations are still underway. Any hypothesis derived from the proceedings, however, will be given “maximum attention,” the Minister affirmed.

Anti-terrorism prosecutors in both Rome and Milan’s Attorney’s Offices have reportedly launched an investigation to determine the individuals or entities responsible for the mass bomb threat hoax for the alleged crimes of causing public alarm and aggravated threat.

Italian outlets observed that unlike Wednesday’s bomb hoax, which originated from email addresses allegedly linked to Taiwan the threatening emails sent on Thursday came from addresses linked to the Philippines. Investigators have reportedly suggested that this behind both incidents may be utilized phished email addresses to carry out the scheme, and may have gained access to a list of Italian school email addresses.

Per SkyTG24, “It cannot be ruled out that groups who have purchased government credentials or access credentials already stolen on the dark web, where such trade is thriving, may be hiding behind those profiles.”