More than 70 organisations across New Zealand have been targeted by “concerning” emails in the past 24 hours, including schools, hospitals, courthouses and places of worship.
A police spokesperson said a range of organisations continued to receive concerning emails.
“To date, more than 70 organisations have reported receiving these emails since yesterday morning.
“We know that these emails are causing real concern among members of our community, particularly the emails directed at places of worship.”
Police remained confident that the emails were from the same source and not targeted at any particular community or group. They do not believe there is any actual threat to the organisations.
Officers were seen at the Dunedin Jewish Congregation building. A representative declined to comment when contacted by the Otago Daily Times.
The New Zealand Jewish Council, along with the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, said in a statement it was dismayed synagogues, temples and centres in New Zealand have been the target of bomb and death threats.
Police were also stationed outside at least one Auckland school, with social media posts saying three police cars with lights on were outside Waitoki School, near Kaukapakapa.
Auckland High Court became the latest target of threats as organisations continued to close and evacuate across the country.
The central Auckland building was evacuated because of a bomb threat before 10.40am.
Staff and the public were ushered out as law students were being admitted to the bar.
Outside Auckland, the courthouse in Nelson is another location to have received the email. It was closed but has since reopened.
Several hospitals have been targeted, with Te Whatu Ora Health NZ revealing “some sites” received an email of concern, which they referred to police.
“Our staff are following police advice and staying vigilant. Hospitals and services remain open,” Te Whatu Ora said in an update.
Police Association president Chris Cahill spoke about differentiating a hoax from a real threat with Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB.
“Well, you know, in the past you could have taken these with a little bit of lightness perhaps and said these are just nutters, but the world’s changed dramatically. Obviously in New Zealand it changed dramatically in 2019.
“So there’s got to be a really thorough threat assessment done around these things and there’s some techniques you can use.”
Cahill was tight-lipped on what those techniques were but said there were some hallmarks of a bogus threat.
“We do seem to get a lot of these around exam time.”
How difficult it was to track down the perpetrators depended on how motivated and clever they were, he said.
“We’ve got some pretty good skills in this area now in our cybercrime unit ... it takes some time because you use overseas servers and route things a different way, we’ve got some good partnerships overseas these days.”
A police spokesperson said cybercrime unit staff were working to identify the origin of the threats.
“However, we ask that organisations who receive the emails continue to report them to police, to assist in our ongoing inquiries to identify the origin of the emails.”
The Herald understands several dozen schools have been targeted so far, including two kindergartens. The majority are on Auckland’s North Shore.
Helensville Primary School and Gulf Harbour School have told parents they received a bomb threat by email.
“Along with other local schools, we have just received a bomb threat,” Gulf Harbour School said.
Auckland’s Murrays Bay Intermediate School is one of many that have chosen to close due to the threats.
“School is currently closed due to a threatening email. Please keep your children at home until further notice,” it told parents.
Auckland’s Orewa College said that, due to a “health and safety” issue, the school was closing immediately.
“Please follow your family emergency plan. Email to caregivers will follow shortly.”
Stella Maris Primary School also confirmed the school had received a threat and would be closed for the day.
“While it is considered a low-level threat, we are erring on the side of caution. School closed today.”
Silverdale School emailed parents and advised them to keep their children at home due to the “threatening email” it had received.
In July last year, six North Island schools were either thrust into lockdown or evacuated after threats made over the phone.
The hoax bomb threats were made to 18 schools and were believed to be computer-generated calls threatening harm to those in the schools.
Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and the Ministry of Education have been contacted for comment.
- with Otago Daily Times