Windhoek
There was no bomb found at the Kleine Kuppe Virgin Active gym after the Namibian police’s K-9 Unit and explosives division conducted a security sweep of the premises on Tuesday.
Also, no person was injured and the situation returned to normal after the security sweep was concluded. This was after one of the employees found in the gym’s toilet a piece of toiletpaper on which was scrawled an ominous handwritten note, saying: “I have planted a bomb here on 5 September 2016. Meet you on the other side.”
The incident occurred at around 16h00. The gym employee soon notified the management, who in turn evacuated the around 300 people, who were inside at the time and notified the police at around 18h00.
Police spokesperson Inspector Slogan Matheus said they dispatched the K-9 Unit and the Explosives Control Division that were joined at the scene by other emergency service providers, such as the fire brigade.
“Except for a firearm and passport that were found in the bag of one of the gym patrons – he was interviewed by the police – we could not establish any line between the patron and the note and the firearm was thus handed back to him. Police investigations into the matter continue,” he said
Regarding the bomb hoax, he said these are serious threats, especially at such a crowded places, as the gym attracts a lot of people.
“We don’t take it lightly, although we could not link any person to the bomb scarce note.
“Our investigations are still ongoing and once concluded we will be able to give a report as to what our findings are and whether someone tried to make a joke, or something was intended. But in terms of our investigation we consider the note as serious,” he said.
Matheus further cautioned the public, saying when there is a bomb scare, people should not stand around or stay in the threatened area, but should rapidly move as far as possible from the identified site to avoid injury to themselves or damage to their properties in the event of an explosion.
Virgin Active in South Africa did not respond yesterday to questions sent to them.