High Court closed after more bomb threats sent

Places of worship also target as more than 70 emails investigated

More than 70 organisations across New Zealand have been targeted by “concerning” emails in 24 hours, including schools, hospitals, courthouses and places of worship.

Several schools were closed yesterday and courts evacuated after bomb threat emails were circulated.

A police spokesperson said a range of organisations continued to receive the emails since they began on Thursday 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 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 yesterday, while police were also stationed outside at least one Auckland school — Waitoki School, near Kaukapakapa.

The High Court at Auckland was evacuated because of a bomb threat.

Staff and members of the public were ushered out before 10.40am as law students were being admitted to the bar.

Several hospitals also received emails, with Te Whatu Ora Health NZ referring them to police.

“Our staff are following police advice and staying vigilant. Hospitals and services remain open,” Te Whatu Ora said in an update.

Several dozen schools were also targeted, including two kindergartens — the majority on Auckland’s North Shore.

Helensville Primary School and Gulf Harbour School told parents they received a bomb threat by email.

Stella Maris Primary School chose to close due to the threats.

“While it is considered a low-level threat, we are erring on the side of caution. School closed today,” it said.

Murrays Bay Intermediate School and Silverdale School asked parents to keep their children home until further notice, while 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.”

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.”

Police Association president Chris Cahill said there were some hallmarks of a hoax that could differentiate it from a real threat.

“We do seem to get a lot of these around exam time,” he told Newstalk ZB.

“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 [with the Christchurch mosque attacks].

“So there’s got to be a really thorough threat assessment done around these things.”

In July last year, six North Island schools were put 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.