Police still investigating UG bomb threat – Crime Chief (ag)

The probe into the bomb threat at the University of Guyana (UG) in May last is still ongoing but investigators are making progress with the optimism of nabbing the culprit(s) involved.
This is according to Crime Chief (ag), Michael Kingston, who during a recent telephone interview with Guyana Times stated that at this point, the police’s Cyber Crime Unit (CCU) is still in the process of analysing “some records”.
He explained that the investigating arm of the Guyana Police Force (GPF) that is handling this matter is “heavily dependent on some other agencies”. As such, in order to ensure that accurate information is provided to the police so that ranks can peruse, it would take some amount of time for the case to be successfully solved and closed.
Though Kingston stated that he could not provide too many details about the investigation, he noted that two of the agencies involved in the process are the two leading telephone companies – the Guyana Telephone Telegraph (GTT) and Digicel.
In May last, although a clean sweep of UG’s Turkeyen Campus revealed that there were no bombs or explosive devices hidden, Crime Chief Lyndon Alves had stated that the GPF will continue to investigate this matter until the culprit is arrested.
At that time, he stated that the CCU had just added this matter to the list of cases that it is aggressively pursuing.
“As you [are] aware, the last time that we would have investigated, someone is presently before the court so we are hoping, working diligently, to get to the bottom of it. We are trying to get the source. We don’t know how long that would take us, how demanding that will be, but we will try, we need to get closure.”
He had also explained that the safety and security of UG’s Turkeyen Campus rest solely on the tertiary institution’s administration.
“If assistance is needed and they make a request to the Commissioner of Police, Leslie James, which will be looked at to determine how best we can assist. I mean, if a crime is committed the police are mandated to investigate it as is the case now.
But in terms of their security and operations and what they do to secure the campus and the persons frequenting there then they will have to make those decisions.”
However, following the threats, classes at the University were suspended but the situation was returned to normalcy after receiving the go-ahead from the GPF’s Bomb Unit. UG’s Vice-Chancellor, Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, in a recent statement to the media said that he is thankful that the threat was a hoax while commending the professionalism of the GPF’s bomb squad in handling the matter.
“These inconsiderate and dangerous acts cause considerable physical and psychological stress and are particularly disruptive at this crucial time for thousands of students and dozens of invigilators. My hope is that we do not experience any such acts going forward,” the VC said in the statement.
On May 24 last, chaos broke out at UG’s Turkeyen Campus when news spread that someone threatened to blow up several sections of the campus by reportedly setting bombs at various locations at the tertiary institution.
The threats were initially sent to a number of online news outfits and the situation was promptly reported to the police.
In the threat, the alleged sender “Jack Ryan” stated “I have placed 20 bombs across the University of Guyana campus which are hidden from plain sight. Attached to this bomb is a timer which can be remotely activated/deactivated”.
The sender also uploaded an image of the alleged handmade explosive device. He also stated that the timer was set for eight hours before destruction.
“The bombs will be activated at exactly 15:00h unless my demands are meet,” the message stated.
However, in a subsequent message, the sender related that students must leave the campus after which he will make his demands.
In February, 25-year-old UG student, Sheneza Jaffarally, who is alleged to have made several bomb threats to the tertiary institution, was able to secure bail to the tune of $10,000 from the High Court through her lawyer.
This was after being refused bail by two Magistrates. Jaffarally was charged under the Telecommunication Act. She pleaded not guilty to the charge, which alleged that on February 5, 2019, at Cummings Lodge, East Coast Demerara (ECD), she sent by means of a public telecommunication system, for the purpose of causing needless anxiety to the staff and students of the University of Guyana, a message which she knew to be false.
The incident, which caused UG to shut down for a short time, also resulted in the institution beefing up its security.