Posted on: Sunday, March 9, 2003

Boy, girl arrested in bomb threat

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

A boy and a girl have been arrested for suspicion of issuing terroristic threats last month, as Honolulu police continue to investigate a series of prank calls warning of bombs hidden in an O'ahu school.

Last week, Department of Education authorities were first told that in a call made to police on Wednesday, the caller said authorities had until the end of the week to find a bomb hidden on an O'ahu campus.

On Thursday, officials sent letters to parents across the island. That led some parents to keep their children at home on Friday.

Late Thursday afternoon, police disclosed that the caller said the bomb was hidden in a high school. No bomb was found, and authorities did not consider the threats credible.

Police said Friday that two earlier bomb threats had been called in concerning Kaiser High School. They said early Friday evening that a 14-year-old boy was under investigation and nearly a dozen students had been interviewed.

Authorities yesterday did not give the ages of the boy and girl arrested late Friday. Nor was there any indication whether further arrests were expected.

A Honolulu detective said yesterday that the arrests of the two juveniles pertained to a call made on Feb. 28, warning of an alleged bomb at Kaiser High School in Hawai'i Kai. The principal at the school reported the threat to police.

Across the island, schools remained open Thursday and Friday. While faculty and staff member searched classrooms and other campus facilities, parents were given the option of keeping their children home.

At schools on or near military facilities, military police teams used bomb-sniffing dogs to search the campuses.