Tayside and Fife teens charged with bomb threat hoaxes to schools across world

Students as far away as Canada were evacuated while their schools were put on lockdown

Author: Callum ClarkPublished 3rd Dec 2019
Last updated 3rd Dec 2019

Two teenagers from Tayside and Fife have been arrested and charged in connection with a series of bomb threat hoaxes to schools across the world.

Students as far away as Canada were evacuated in February this year while their schools were put on lockdown.

The boys - who are aged from Dundee and Glenrothes - allegedly made the calls through an online app.

They're aged 15 to 17 - while another from East Lothian has also been charged.

Around 100 calls were made in total, with schools in the US, Netherlands, England and Scotland also targeted.

The investigation was led by specialists in Canada.

Detective Philip Hawkins, a member of the Edmonton Police Service’s Cyber Crime Investigations Unit, said: " The amount of school and police resources these calls take up, not to mention the distress they cause to children, teachers and parents, is unacceptable.

We've left no stone unturned in this lengthy investigation, even across international borders, and three suspects are now facing charges in their home country.”

In total, the February 2019 series of hoax calls resulted in the deployment of 47 EPS vehicles and affected more than 4,000 Edmonton students, with six Edmonton schools placed in lockdown for a cumulative total of nearly five hours.

Sgt Em Chan, EPS School Resource Officer, added: “While we were able to identify early on that these calls were a hoax, we take these occurrences very seriously.”

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We have arrested and charged three males, aged 15 to 17, from Dundee, Musselburgh and Glenrothes in connection with hoax threats made to premises in the UK, USA, Canada and Netherlands in December 2018 and February 2019. The teenagers will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal."