Authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland described threatening school emails as hoaxes, while alerts prompted evacuations in Italy. Investigations into the messages’ origin remain open.
Threatening emails sent to schools across several European countries on 11 November prompted precautionary closures and police enquiries. Authorities distinguished the disruption caused by the messages from their assessment of the underlying threat, with police in Scotland and Northern Ireland treating the emails as hoaxes.
In Italy, the education ministry said approximately 6,000 schools received the message, according to ANSA. The agency stressed that not all recipients evacuated. That distinction is important when assessing the scale of the incident: receiving an email and closing a school are separate events.
Police assessments and local responses
Police Scotland said it had found nothing to suggest a credible threat or a wider danger to the public. Its advice was that the emails alone did not require schools to evacuate or children to stay away from education. The force’s Cyber and Fraud Unit was investigating the source with UK and international partners.
The Highland Council reported that 196 of its schools received the email. Most took precautionary evacuation measures while seeking police guidance. Some subsequently reopened; others stayed closed because pupils had already left and returning them was impractical.
Dumfries and Galloway Council also reported precautionary evacuations at some schools. It said police had confirmed no immediate or targeted threat and that the council remained in contact with education and resilience teams.
Enquiries continue
In Northern Ireland, the PSNI said more than 300 schools had reported receiving the same threatening message. Checks had found nothing untoward, and police assessed the public risk as low. The force said the email originated outside the UK and that enquiries were continuing.
These statements do not identify an individual, group or state responsible for the wider incidents. Similar timing and wording warrant investigation, but do not by themselves establish common authorship. The verified picture is of substantial disruption, precautionary responses and police assessments that the messages did not represent credible threats.
Sources
ANSA — Ministry says about 6,000 Italian schools received email
Police Scotland — Threatening messages statement
