BOMB HOAX: Customers and staff make their way out of the HLB branch in Sekama as police officers arrive to inspect the premises.
KUCHING: Six Hong Leong Bank (HLB) branches in the city had their services briefly interrupted following a bomb hoax yesterday.
District police chief ACP Mun Kock Keong said police personnel, including a bomb disposal unit, conducted a sweep of the six branches but did not locate any explosive material at any of the premises.
“I believe it (bomb threat) was a hoax made by an unidentified caller. We will now be doing a follow-up investigation to identify the culprit as that person has committed an offence under the law,” said Mun.
The hoax call was purportedly received at 10.40am by the manager of an HLB branch at Khoo Hun Yeang Street, in which the person at the other end of the line claimed a bomb had been planted at one of the bank’s branches ‘in the city’.
When met, most of the customers, who had to evacuate the premises along with bank staff, believed the incident was a hoax, adding the so-called threat caused more inconvenience than panic.
One customer said he had gone to four different branches to attend to important banking matters, but found each one closed for police inspection.
It did not take long, however, for business to resume after police personnel completed their sweep and gave the all-clear for staff and customers to re-enter the premises.