Four schools evacuated following series of co-ordinated phone threats, TRG called in

Four schools evacuated following series of co-ordinated phone threats, TRG called in

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FOUR NT schools — three in the Darwin area and one in Alice Springs — were evacuated following bomb threats Friday morning.

Dripstone Middle School, Stuart Park Primary, Woodroffe Primary and Bradshaw Primary School all enacted their emergency management plans as a precaution, officials said.

A police spokesman said that teachers and school staff at Stuart Park Primary searched for suspicious objects throughout the school.

The police Tactical Response Group arrived shortly afterwards and cleared the school.

The spokesman said that students filed back into school about 10.45am.All the threats were made directly to the schools by automated phone calls with a generic messsage, similar to co-ordinated phone threats made to schools in New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and Queensland earlier this week.

The three Darwin area bomb threats were all called in within 10 minutes of each other, between 9.30am and 9.40am.

A Department of Education spokesman said later that “parents are to be assured that they do not need to collect their children from school.”

“ ... all students are safe and police have advised that the schools are safe for children to now return to class.

“The schools immediately enacted their emergency management plans as a precaution, and continue to work closely with police on this matter.”

“These threats appear to be a series of hoax calls, designed to cause disruption and attract media attention,” a statement from the Department of Education said.

“The Department of Education is taking this matter seriously and wishes to reassure parents that the safety of their children is of the utmost priority.”

Police are currently investigating how serious the threats are and if they are in fact connected to similar threats in other parts of the country.

“It (the threats) follows co-ordinated phone threats made to schools in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and ACT,” a police spokesman said.

Police also said “those responsible for making the threat could face serious charges, which may carry prison terms.”