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Hoaxer, 13, shuts US banks =================== David Teather in New York Tuesday April 16, 2002 The Guardian A 13-year-old Dutch boy wreaked havoc in Washington DC yesterday with a hoax bomb threat that closed most banks in the city centre. Branches of some of the country's largest banks, including Bank of America and Citibank, closed their doors mid-morning after the FBI warned that it had received a threat over the weekend. The hoax-caller said a bomb would go off in a bank in the centre of Washington at noon on Monday. The call was made from the Netherlands via a Canadian telephone operator. The FBI said it did not have any reason to assign "a high degree of credibility" to the threat. But in a city that suffered the September 11 attack on the Pentagon and the death of two mail carriers from anthrax, the banks were in no mood to take risks. Later in the evening, the Dutch public prosecutor's office said it had tracked down the origin of the call and that the boy had admitted responsibility. "We have the idea that the boy acted on his own and that it was intended as a joke," spokesman Wim de Bruin said. He said the public prosecutor would conduct a fuller investigation. Following news of the warning, most of the banks sent staff home and were closed for the rest of the day. The bomb threat also prompted the evacuation of office workers in buildings next to or above bank branches. Assistant DC police chief Terry Gainer said the bomb threat could add further pressure to already stretched security resources. "We hope that it doesn't spawn copycats," he said. "This is very time-consuming and I think it augurs in favour of what terrorism is trying to do." He added: "If someone sees they can get us jumping through hoops then idiots will do that, let alone terrorists. So then you're trying to deal with all the protest groups we have in the city and rallies and the terrorist threats and your normal run-of-the-mill yahoos." City police had already been bracing themselves for the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank later this week. A meeting of G7 finance ministers, a conference of federal judges and several protest marches are also planned. Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2002 --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
