Daijiworld Media Network – Panaji

Panaji, May 10: Panic gripped the North Goa Collectorate on Friday morning after an Additional Collector received a bomb threat via email, forcing an emergency evacuation of the premises and disrupting work for over an hour.

The building, which houses the offices of the North Goa collector, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Mamlatdar and other key departments, was swiftly cleared as a precautionary measure. Police and the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) arrived at the scene and carried out a thorough search before declaring the area safe for re-entry.

“An email was noticed around 11:30 am, which stated that one of the Additional Collectors is under threat of a bomb. We immediately informed the police and the BDDS. They reached the spot, conducted verification of the premises and gave the go-ahead to resume work,” said North Goa Collector Yashaswini B.

Additional Collector Mahadev Araundekar noted that a similar threat was earlier received at the office of the Bardez SDM.

Sources revealed that the threatening email originated from an outlook.com account. Authorities have launched an investigation into the source and motive behind the message.

This latest scare follows a recent incident on March 29, when a bomb threat targeting the Director General of Police was sent to the Goa Police headquarters. That warning, which mentioned a potential IED attack, led to a six-hour search operation. Police are now probing possible links between the incidents.