Possible links between school bomb threats across Canada

Students and staff fill a field near Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam after a bomb threat forced an evacuation of the school Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. (CTV)

Mounties are probing possible links between three bomb threats that forced evacuations at schools in British Columbia, Ontario and New Brunswick on Thursday morning.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Jamie Chung confirmed investigators are looking into social media posts that appear to connect disruptions at Gleneagle Secondary School in Coquitlam, B.C., Milliken Mills High School in Markham, Ont., and Simonds High School in St. John, N.B.

“That is one thing that we’re looking at. We are into the new social media age and it requires new investigative techniques for this type of incident,” Chung said.

“It is no longer just paper and pencil and go to the house and get the bad guy.”

Cheung would not confirm which postings are being investigated, but CTV News has identified a notorious Internet hacker who referenced all three threats on his Twitter feed Thursday.

The hacker, whom CTV News has chosen not to identify, has been accused in the past of “swatting,” a hoax that involves summoning police emergency teams to different locations with phoney calls.

On Thursday, the hacker also sent ominous tweets including “RIP Milliken Mills High School,” “sucks to be canadian today LOL,” and finally, “I think I’ve broken enough federal laws tonight goodnight.”

Chung said there’s no hard evidence linking the three threats, but that investigators will be following up.

Police swept all the schools and found no physical danger to students. Classes were eventually resumed in Markham and St. John but students were sent home for the day in Coquitlam while Mounties continued to investigate the scene.