MADRID (Reuters) – Several international schools in Spain were checked by police with sniffer dogs while others did not open on Monday after receiving emailed bomb threats which the Interior Ministry said were a hoax.
A police source in Zaragoza confirmed four international schools in the city received the threat and that the French Lycee Moliere had not opened on Monday. At least three other British-run schools in Madrid told Reuters they had received similar threats either last week or on Monday.
At least two international schools in Tenerife – a French Lycee and a German School – also received the threat and did not open on Monday, the regional government confirmed.
El Mundo newspaper said a total of 18 schools in Pontevedra, Tenerife, Zaragoza, Reus, Tarragona, Villareal and Castellon received threats by email.
“Regarding the wave of threats, complaints are being taken and the investigation is being centralised. They are false threats,” the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The email specified no reason for issuing the threat, a source at one school told Reuters.
A source at another school said the very short email had referenced explosives planted in the establishment, without attributing responsibility to any group or giving any reason for the activity.
The English Montessori School in Madrid, owned by the UK-headquartered Cognita educational group, also received a threat but police said there was no need to evacuate the school, its head teacher told parents in an email.
A spokesman for St George British School in Madrid told Reuters that the school had received an email and early this morning police with sniffer dogs checked the building before giving permission to open to pupils.
(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, Corina Pons, Charlie Devereux, Aislinn Laing and Belen Carreno; editing by Charlie Devereux and Christina Fincher)
