UG shuts down as bomb scare forces suspension of exams, classes

Chaos broke out at the University of Guyana’s Turkeyen campus on Friday morning 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 Guyana Police Force, Guyana Fire Service and the University’s security were on high alert and locked down the institution.
As a result, the gates to the educational institution were closed as security forces scanned the institution for threats. The threats were initially sent to a number of online news outfits and the situation was promptly reported to the police.
In the message, 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.
C Division Police Commander, Calvin Brutus told this publication on Friday that fire tenders and members of the Guyana Police Force’s bomb squad spent hours combing through the multiple buildings on that campus in search of the possible bombs.
They were able to evacuate a large number of students, who had been on campus for various classes as well as faculty members, however, there were a few challenges in getting students who were already writing exams to safe locations.
“We managed to get those folks out of the compound and into safety zone. But when we got there, some students had already commenced certain exams, so we had to try to get them into a safe zone too. At the same time, we did not know where the sender alleged he placed bombs so we had to check every single part of the campus,” the Commander said.
When this newspaper arrived on campus on Friday, the gates were still closed and security personnel were not allowing anyone into the compound.
This is the second bomb threat that the Turkeyen campus of UG has faced since the start of 2019.
In February, a female student of that campus was charged for allegedly sending threatening messages saying that a bomb was placed on campus. She has since denied the allegation and is currently on trial.