Threatening emails were sent to 160 schools across Northern Ireland, Education Minister Paul Givan confirmed, though a headline put the number at more than 150. Police received reports on Monday 19 October of an email sent to several schools and are making urgent enquiries and liaising with the schools. Some schools closed on Monday morning after receiving the messages.
Givan said the threat had been escalated to the police and that the Education Authority was holding emergency meetings with them. The advice to schools, he said, is that this is not being treated as a viable threat, though he acknowledged it had caused huge alarm. He advised schools to contact their local policing commands and said they should not close unless a specific object had been identified.
The unconfirmed motive
Givan said the email appeared to come from Islamists threatening that Sharia law would be brought into the country, that it was signed with an Islamic phrase, and that it claimed there were viable devices in school settings. He said this was how it appeared to him, so it is his interpretation. Police have not confirmed the motive or who sent the emails, and have said they are looking into whether the messages were malicious communications. The Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Chris Bryant, called the hoax threats appalling, and Givan condemned the disruption to young people's education.
