By 09:00 on Monday, the first day of the new academic year in Lithuania, the police received 26 reports about emails with bomb threats received by schools.
Revita Janavičiūtė, spokeswoman for the Police Department, has told BNS that all the emails were received in Vilnius and were written in Russian.
“None have proved to be real,” she said.
The police currently have no information on any evacuations of educational establishments.
“There’s no information yet on any preliminary investigations into hoax threats. The situation is still developing, and no specific decisions have been made,” the spokeswoman added.
Earlier on Monday, the Police Department advised schools and other educational establishments on Facebook not to panic if they receive threatening emails but to stay alert and follow law enforcement recommendations.
Schools are advised to continue their operations and consult with responsible officers after receiving a bomb threat, rather than calling emergency services.
The police also urged schools against unnecessary evacuations and asked them to call the emergency services only if an actual suspicious item is found.
Thousands of hoax bomb threats were emailed to schools, kindergartens and municipal buildings across Lithuania over a few days in October 2023. Latvia and Estonia were also flooded with similar emails.
Lithuania’s State Security Department then said that this was most likely a targeted and coordinated attack by “hostile states” aimed at causing panic and chaos.
At least in some cases, however, the bomb threats appeared to have been sent by students.
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