Staffers of the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) were evacuated from their Camp Street, Georgetown office on Thursday morning following another bomb scare.
A report of a bomb being placed on the premises was received just after 09:00h and an alarm was immediately raised to clear the building. Shortly after, the Guyana Police Force (GPF) was deployed to assess the situation.
By the end of the day, employees had returned to the building where they resumed operations as per normal. This is the latest of many threats made against public and educational institutions over the past month.
The threats started earlier this year when the School of Nations on New Market Street, Georgetown was targeted. The following evening, the school’s Director, Dr Brian O’Toole was shot twice at his home by an unknown person, but he survived the near-death experience.
This act came with what was considered warning signs from a social media account, believed to be created by students of the said institution. The threatening posts started on WhatsApp and moved to Facebook, where threats were made on the lives of students. In one instance, two persons were mentioned in the online posts.
However, Queen’s College, the Bishops’ High School and the University of Guyana received similar messages, causing concern among parents for the safety of their children. The University had postponed all classes after a second bomb threat was directed at the institution. It was the second consecutive day in which threats were issued, resulting in a visit from both the Guyana Fire Service and the GPF to conduct a thorough search of the premises. Nothing was found. A female student of the Turkeyen campus was charged for allegedly sending threatening messages that a bomb was placed on campus. She has since denied the allegation and was currently on trial.
Just last month, news arose that someone threatened to blow up several sections of the Turkeyen campus by reportedly setting off bombs at various locations at the tertiary institution.
The GPF, Guyana Fire Service and the University’s security were on high alert and locked down the institution but no explosives were unearthed.
