The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has joined the investigation into the recent series of bomb threats that affected several government agencies around the Philippines Monday, February 12.
In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said he has ordered a thorough probe into the alleged Japanese national who purportedly e-mailed the bomb threats to various government agencies.
To recall, several government offices in Metro Manila and other parts of the country received an e-mailed message from a certain Takahiro Karasawa, who claimed that “high-performance” bombs will go off at major Philippine government agencies on Monday afternoon.
Among the affected government agencies include the local government of Zambales; the Department of Education's division office in Bataan; the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR); and the Cebu City Hall of Justice.
The e-mails prompted the affected agencies to suspend operations and evacuate personnel and visitors from their offices while the Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted search operations into the alleged explosives.
PNP spokesperson P/Col. Jean Fajardo later announced that successive probes disproved the presence of bombs inside these offices.
Japanese perpetrator
Tansingco said that they will be working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether the suspect is indeed in the country.
Initial reports from the PNP's Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) said the e-mail containing the bomb threats originated from Japan.
"We will also be verifying if this is his real identity, or if he is a prankster using a fictitious name," he added.
Tansingco warned that they would immediately be able to implement hold orders, blacklist orders, or arrest warrants issued against the suspect.
"The national government is not taking this lightly. Any security threat shall be met with the harshest penalties of the law," he added.
Tansingco said that a quick check of their database revealed at least four namesakes, who are all not in the country.
The BI said that it will forward results of their verification to the NBI and DOJ to assist in the investigation.
The PNP also reported that similar threats were received by various agencies in South Korea and that similar bomb threats also hit several government agencies in 2023.
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