Military doesn’t know who left handwritten bomb threat on Halifax base

A Canadian Forces Military Police investigation failed to identify the person or people who left a handwritten bomb threat on a Halifax base in 2016.

“The Military Police always take such acts of deceit seriously because they create unnecessary risk and anxiety and divert policing efforts from serving the community,” Mike Bonin, base public affairs officer, said in an email.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The Military Police always take such acts of deceit seriously because they create unnecessary risk and anxiety and divert policing efforts from serving the community," Mike Bonin, base public affairs officer, said in an email.

The paper threat was found on Oct. 6 at Canadian Forces Base Halifax, and the Halifax & Region Military Family Resource Centre was the target.

The centre’s Halifax and Shearwater, N.S., sites were subsequently evacuated and searched, but nothing suspicious was found.

The incident happened in the same year Halifax Regional Police said there was an “extraordinary high amount” of bomb threats in the municipality.

Faxed threats made a few weeks prior to the incident resulted in evacuations of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island schools.

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Bonin would not discuss the wording of the threat, and said on a phone call on Wednesday that the report on the investigation is not available to the public.

The paper “was on a table of some sort in a common area,” but he wouldn’t say where, specifically, on the base.

Bonin said the common area would “potentially” be accessible to the general public.

“Everybody goes through security before they get onto the base,” he said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Everybody goes through security before they get onto the base," he said.

The people who could access the site include military personnel, civilian employees, retirees, contractors, and other people working in the building, Bonin added.

Police searched the sites at the time, including using a canine team, and St. Catherine’s Elementary School initiated a hold and secure procedure.

When asked if there was a security camera in the common area, Bonin said he wouldn’t discuss the security measures that are in place.

The investigation has closed, though police will assess any potential new information that comes in the future.