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Bomb threat results in evacuation of Victoria courthouse

Bomb threat results in evacuation of Victoria courthouse - image
Jonathan Bartlett Global News

Victoria police are pursuing some leads after a bomb threat forced the evacuation and lockdown of the Victoria courthouse late Tuesday afternoon.

Acting Staff-Sgt. Mike Darling says the call came in to the B.C. sheriff’s office at 3:45 p.m.

“It was a male voice. What all did they say when they called in? It was just reporting that there was a bomb at the courthouse and that it was going to blow up in 20 minutes.”

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The sheriffs notified Victoria police who soon arrived and set up an exterior perimeter and closed nearby roads.

READ MORE: Suspicious package on Broadway rendered safe, deemed not to be explosive

Darling says the incident was cause for some alarm among courthouse staff.

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“This type of incident creates significant disruption, anytime it’s in a public building of a higher profile such as the courthouse, obviously tremendous disruption to everything that was going on here.”

After an interior security sweep, police found nothing suspicious and gave the all-clear just before 5:30 p.m.

READ MORE: Hamilton Police provides update on Bishop Ryan secondary school bomb threat

Victoria police aren’t yet commenting on reports a similar bomb threat was made against Victoria City Hall several hours later on Tuesday night.

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