By Trevor Thwaites (St.George's correspondent)

TANTEEN, St. George's: It was a somewhat scary Tuesday afternoon for the staff at the Ministerial Complex, who was forced to hastily retreat from the building after receiving a bomb threat. According to reports Cabinet Secretary Agar Alexander received a telephone call from the ministry of health, urging workers to vacate the building because a bomb was going to explode. The word traveled fast and so some workers were seen crowding the nearby parliamentary, building, while other vacated the premises

The instruction to leave the building came at around 2:25 and approximately 20 minutes later, a 15-member Police Explosive Ordinance Disposal Team headed by ASP Jesmond Prince arrived to deal with the threat. They mounted a search operation for the ‘so-called’ device, which comprised a search of the public areas in the six stories of the complex. The operations lasted approximately 90 minutes, after which ASP Prince spoke to reporters.

“We have conducted a thorough search of the building and have found nothing. However, we will continue to investigate the matter. We will be looking to trace the call that was received from the ministry of health, warning about the threat. The building is now safe and people can return to work once more,” ASP Prince said. During the operations the complex was declared out of bounds to the public. No one was allowed to enter the compound.

The incident has brought into question the true readiness of the complex to effectively deal with a real situation. Some workers have expressed bitter disappointment with the warning system used to alert them of the possible danger. “We were in our office for about half an hour after the threat was sounded. This is certainly not good. We would have been in serious trouble if it was real,” were some of the comments.

Workers are calling for the installation of a sound and efficient warning system that will alert them immediately almost simultaneously for future bomb scares and other security measures, so as to ensure that a quick evacuation of the building can take place. They are calling for a system that will bring the word right into their office and not hearsay. Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell was not in the building at the time of the incident.


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