Hundreds of establishments in Lithuania received bomb threats on Wednesday.
“Not only schools but various other establishments have received them. We have a preliminary figure of several hundred, we do not have the exact number yet. The threats were sent overnight, stating that explosions will take place at a certain time,” Ramunas Matonis, spokesperson for the Police Department, told BNS, adding that recommendations remain the same.
This is the second time over the past several months that mass bomb threats have been sent out.
The National Crisis Management Center says this is being treated as an information attack.
Establishments are advised not to interrupt their activities, not to call the emergency number, and to consult the responsible officers after receiving a bomb threat. Evacuations should be initiated and people should called emergency number 112 only if a dangerous object is found or there are other indications that the threat may be real.
The police recommend that establishments should have a single responsible person who would call and notify the police. They should dial the emergency number, wait patiently for the operator to answer, not to hang up and not to redial the number.
In mid-October, Lithuanian institutions received thousands of e-mails about allegedly planted explosives in schools, kindergartens and municipalities over the course of several days. Such messages were also sent to educational establishments in Latvia and Estonia.
Lithuania’s State Security Department says this was most likely a targeted and coordinated attack initiated by hostile states, adding that the false bomb threats and similar actions were aimed at creating tensions and causing panic among people, disturbing and destabilizing the work of institutions, and increasing mistrust.
Source: BNS
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