Kottayam/Palakkad/Kollam: Panic gripped three districts in Kerala—Kottayam, Palakkad, and Kollam—on Thursday after bomb threat emails were sent to their respective collectorates by unidentified sources. The alarming messages led to immediate evacuations and extensive searches by police and bomb squads.
In Kollam, the threat email was received early in the morning, prompting authorities to conduct a detailed inspection. However, no suspicious items were found, and the threat was soon declared a hoax. A similar pattern unfolded in Kottayam, where bomb squads scoured the premises but found nothing unusual.
Palakkad faced heightened concerns as the email received there claimed a bomb would detonate at 2 PM. Coincidentally, the Palakkad RDO office had received a similar threat the previous day. Today’s message, which arrived at 7:15 AM, was flagged by the district collector at around 11 AM, prompting an immediate alert to law enforcement.
All three collectorates were cleared of personnel while police and bomb disposal teams conducted meticulous searches. Authorities later confirmed that all threats were false alarms, but the coordinated nature of the hoax has raised serious questions about its origin.
While no harm was done, the incident triggered temporary disruption in government operations and highlighted the need for enhanced digital security measures across public offices.
