The RCMP came up empty-handed after a search of Winnipeg’s Richardson International Airport Thursday morning.
The Winnipeg airport — along with facilities in facilities in Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver — was the target of bomb threats, leading to flight delays and evacuations across the country.
Manitoba RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that officers found nothing suspicious.
“The Winnipeg complaint came in at approximately 6:05 a.m…. The caller stated that a bomb had been placed in the tower portion of the airport property,” he said.
“Officers conducted a search of the entire premises for the tower and didn’t find anything suspicious, so they cleared that call pretty quickly.”
Manaigre said his understanding was that each airport received individual calls with similar threats, and that while bomb threats at airports aren’t something that happens often, this kind of call is something police are getting more experience with.
“Our past experience the last couple of years is more involving schools,” he said.
“We had similar incidents where a number of schools across North America received bomb threats, and I think the idea is probably originating from a similar source and multiple calls are made, just making life difficult for schoolkids … or in this case, airports.
“These nuisance calls, because of the nature of the location, you have to take them seriously and you’ve got to conduct that due diligence.”
In a statement Thursday, the Winnipeg Airports Authority confirmed there was a security incident, but said it had minimal impact on regular operations at the airport, and that no further delays are expected.