Those behind the recent succession of hoax bomb threats want to induce anxiety among Moldovans and test the Moldovan state’s response capacities, says Interior Minister Ana Revenco. According to her, a new bomb threat response protocol will soon be proposed to the Supreme Security Council.

Revenco says the number of false bomb threats has increased alarmingly this year.

“We tend to classify these false bomb threats as atypical, hybrid threats. Whereas in the entire year 2021 we had 25 false threats, this year, in the first six months alone we had 245 interventions, which means a lot of work for a large part of our team. It is important for us to intervene promptly. We are now getting better at responding. Today we are working on a new protocol that will be proposed to the secretariat of the Supreme Security Council. It’s in development and it’s created on a model used by other countries. This response protocol must ensure the security of the citizens, while also making sure public institutions and businesses can work normally. At the same time, investigations are underway”, Ana Revenco told a show on Vocea Basarabiei.

The interior minister says the task of identifying the perpetrator is complicated given the threats are made by email. Thanks to technical assistance from Europol, it was possible to locate some of them.

“Most of the false threats come in by email. We work with international organizations to locate them. The first organization we contacted from day one is Europol, because they have advanced technological laboratories that allow us to carry out technical analysis much faster, to establish the IPs, the addresses where these alerts are coming from. Some locations have been identified, but it is too early to say who is behind these threats and what their intentions are. Foreign jurisdictions are involved, but we shouldn’t rush to conclusions just yet”, Ana Revenco said.