Following a five-day “hybrid attack”, when schools and other institutions across Lithuania received multiple bomb threats, students themselves have started sending anonymous threatening letters, the Police Department said on Wednesday.
Four pre-trial investigations have been opened over the last two weeks into new threats against schools, police said.
Investigators found out that the letters were sent by students to their own schools as a joke.
All the schools were inspected and no explosives were found. All the four bomb threats were sent by students aged between nine and 16.
The police remind the public that such actions are punishable by criminal law.
“We urge parents and teachers to explain to their children the consequences of such actions, remind them of their responsibilities, and urge them not to make jokes or tarnish their own reputations,” the Police Department said.
According to Wednesday morning’s data, police did not record any threats of planted explosives overnight.
Over several days in mid-October, Lithuanian institutions received thousands of e-mails about allegedly planted explosives in schools, kindergartens and other public institutions.
Similar surges in bomb threats against schools were reported in Latvia and Estonia.
According to the Department of State Security, this was most likely a targeted and coordinated attack initiated by hostile governments.
According to intelligence services, the false threats and similar actions were aimed at stoking tensions and panic in the society, disturbing and destabilising the work of public institutions, and increasing mistrust.
