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Hundreds of Hungarian schools receive bomb threat, no explosive devices found so far

January 23. 2025. – 05:15 PM

updated

Hundreds of Hungarian schools receive bomb threat, no explosive devices found so far
A police officer at an art high school in Budapest's 9th district: Photo: István Huszti / Telex

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On Thursday morning, 29 schools in Budapest and one in Hódmezővásárhely received bomb threats. As the morning progressed, this number quickly grew and by 11:30 am, 268 elementary schools and high schools across Hungary reported that they had received a threatening letter. The institutions were all sent the same exact email, in which the writer expressed a desire to take revenge on the recipients in the name of Allah, Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás explained at the government’s weekly press briefing.

The letter included warnings such as “We have witnessed your government's ongoing war against Muslims, and it would be just for you to now experience the wrath of the oppressed. From now on, your safety is no longer guaranteed.” The author(s) also warned that “the time of reckoning has come”.

At the government’s weekly press briefing, Minister Gulyás said that the police have opened an investigation on charges of threatening public safety. He said that even if the letters were sent via a foreign server, investigators will track down the perpetrator. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán informed the public in a social media post that they have established a hotline between him and Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér due to the situation.

The University of Economics and Business Administration (EUBA) in Bratislava, the capital of neighbouring Slovakia also received a bomb threat on Thursday, while hundreds of schools in Bulgaria were sent threatening letters on Wednesday. The police found no explosive devices in any of the institutions. This was not the first such case in the country, but Wednesday's messages were different from the previous threats. Bulgarian authorities have contacted Interpol to request assistance in the investigation.

Hungarian police have said that the letter was sent to all recipients from the same address and said they are in contact with the Slovak authorities, as there were similar mass bomb threats in Slovakia a few years ago, after which no real bombs were found.

"The police will not go to sleep today until we have been to every Hungarian school which received such a threat, and until we have searched each one of those buildings" – Kristóf Gál, head of communications at the National Police Headquarters (ORFK) said at a press conference held in the early afternoon hours. "No explosives have been found in the buildings we have searched so far," he added, and that was still the case at the time of writing, in the late afternoon hours.

Szijjártó: Proof that the Hungarian government is right

The Prime Minister’s Political Director, Balázs Orbán reacted in a Facebook post: "This morning's bomb threat is a blatant attack on Hungary's security, and once again confirms what we have been stressing for years: we must be aware, because representatives of extremist ideas are a serious threat to our security.”

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that all such threats further confirm that in spite of all the pressure, we should not allow anyone into the country, and the fact that Hungary has not seen attacks like those in Western Europe is proof that the Hungarian government is right on this issue.

Update: We changed the original title of this article, as the number of schools that received a threatening email continued to grow further. On Thursday evening, the ORFK announced that a total of 257 schools in Budapest and 30 schools in the countryside had received bomb threats by email, and all of them had been inspected for explosives. There were another 16 institutions, which had not received a bomb threat but whose principal had requested a bomb search. No explosives or explosive devices were found anywhere. "If any more institutions should report a threat, the necessary measures will be taken immediately," they said in a statement.

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