Herrera calls for harsher penalties to deter bomb scares

Reacting to the eleventh bomb scare threat in just a month, Labour MP Jose Herrera has called for harsher penalties to deter bomb hoaxes in court.

This morning, court sittings were suspended after a bomb threat call was made. "This is unacceptable and cannot go on. The country cannot go on losing precious time and money because of someone's sick joke. This is becoming a mockery of the justice system," Herrera said.

Herrera also suggested that a special unit is set up at the courts, which would be responsible of evacuating the floors and scouting the areas. He also pointed out that it was even more dangerous that people would be asked to wait outside the court building, when most probably the bomb would be in one of the skips outside.

"Having security guards next to the main door and on the other floors, it's very difficult for someone to go in with a bomb as it would be detected. Probably, if a bomb is placed it would be outside, which means that in case of an evacuation, the area outside the building should be evacuated as well," he said.

Herrera pointed out that while the persons are evacuated from the building, yet prisoners, police escorts and other personnel who would be in the lock-up beneath the courts are not evacuated.

The Labour MP acknowledged that Justice Minister Chris Said has committed himself to tackle the issue and try to find a solution.

The Maltese courts have started keeping tabs on bomb hoaxes since 2008. Since then, a total of 59 fake bomb threats  have been recorded.