20 BOMB THREATS AND ONE BOMB BLAST IN 3 DAYS

Twelve in the north, one in south, three in the east and four in central. The most recent being one at Sangre Grande.

When contacted Fire station Officer Ambrose at the Wright-son Road, Headquarters who was also on "Storm Emily watch" wanted to assure the public that although all the reports so far, except for Monday’s blast were not real his agency took each report seriously.

"We have never treated and will never treat any bomb threat as insignificant, or a joke. Once a report is made we follow standard procedure, one which all companies, establishments and families should have of evacuating everyone to a safe place away from the impact of any explosion, while a check is made to see if all persons are accounted for, while our technicians check the area of the report and surrounding area to make sure it is safe. We respond as we ought to respond.

"The same procedure holds if there is a blast.

"Once declared safe, the persons are free to return to the establishment.

"While in the case of what happened on Monday, a procedure like this might not work, persons in the affected area need to get a safe distance from the scene and cooperate with any security personnel at the scene. What however is of utmost importance is that the public must become more vigilante now, more than ever.

"A policeman or security personnel cannot be put at every corner, but if a citizen is observant to unusual actions of persons they can probably stop a disaster from happening, or at least identify the perpetrators."

The FSO also agreed that while his officers are being stretched thin dealing with both the storm and the constant reports of bomb threats, they are competent to deal with it, he said

He also confirmed that Fire Service personnel and Forensic Science Centre, officers are still going through the rubble from Monday’s blast to determine the type of explosives used. fourteen persons were injured with one senior citizen losing her leg.

Police sources said they are also monitoring the situation with regard to the bomb threats.