Police warned on Thursday that those behind the recent spate of bomb hoaxes across the country face jail terms of up to 15 years if caught and prosecuted.
The national police commissioner’s representative Director Sally de Beer said that police were taking the threats very seriously.
”Anyone arrested for making bomb threats will be charged under the Explosives Act and could face a prison term of three to 15 years. We urge the public not to trouble police with prank bomb threats when police should be out there dealing with much more serious issues,” she said.
Police do not believe there is a link between the recent hoax calls and the October 30 blasts in Soweto and Bronkhorstspruit that left one person dead and two injured.
”It is more likely people jumping on the bandwagon,” she said.
For the first time on Wednesday, National Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi linked the shadowy rightwing extremist group, the Boeremag, to the October 30 bombings. Eighteen of the group’s members are already in custody on charges of plotting a coup against the government and another six are being sought by police.
The bomb scares began on Tuesday.
Cape Town’s Holocaust Centre, a few hundred metres from Parliament, was briefly evacuated after a bomb threat was made by phone. Nothing was found when police searched the building.
Later on Tuesday an anonymous caller reported that a fire extinguisher was standing in the middle of a road in Orange Grove, Johannesburg. Police detonated the extinguisher in a controlled explosion.
However, the extinguisher contained only muddy water.
On Wednesday, the Durban Magistrate’s Court had to be evacuated after a threatening call was received by the Durban emergency services.
Police dogs found a small box which was then detonated in a controlled explosion.
On Thursday, a Durban college was evacuated after a caller claimed there was a bomb in the building. The call proved to be a prank.
A suspicious looking briefcase was detonated by police in the Home Affairs head office in Pretoria on October 31 but it was found it to be empty.
So far, one man has been arrested for making a bomb threat. Michael James John Smith was arrested after making calls to police claiming he had been responsible for the explosion at the Dhlamini mosque in Soweto.
Smith is expected to appear in the Germiston Regional Court on Friday for a bail application.
The Institute for Security Studies researcher Martin Schonteich said the number of bomb threats may not be unusual, but the recent Soweto bombings would have increased police awareness and media coverage of bomb threats.
”Obviously with the recent bombings, there will be a greater awareness by police when threats are made. Police will therefore act very swiftly and decisively when any threat is received, giving a possible appearance that there has been an increase in the number of threats,” he said.
Schonteich said such hoax calls followed a typical copycat pattern.
He said the randomness and the physical distance between the places where the threats were made meant it was unlikely they were related.
They were probably made by people looking for attention.
”These people are most likely copying others for the attention because of the attention that the Soweto bombings and subsequent bomb threats have been given in the media.”
He said the people could have a host of emotional problems or they could just be looking for a kick, knowing that their actions had made the news. – Sapa