Terrorism By Remote Calls

"That's why the law enforcement hasn't been able to catch anyone so far [calls made over the Internet]."
"[The calls likely emanate from a criminal organization because of the advance warning]."
Gennady Gudkov, security expert, former parliamentarian, Moscow

"Undoubtedly, it is telephone terrorism, telephone hooliganism."
"The relevant authorities are taking all the necessary measures in order to identify those responsible for this series of calls. We are waiting for the results of this work."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov

 

Moscow bomb threat: Thousands of people have been evacuated as police investigate    Twitter

Some work it has been, too -- at least in volume, in the number of sites affected, the number of people evacuated, the concern and fear it has engendered -- and the purpose for it all eludes investigators. If it is the work of terrorists then why call and inform authorities that a bomb has been planted and is set to go off. On the other hand, terror exists because of the unknown quality of the threat, as well. Warn authorities and they must then react. By reacting, fear is the contamination that runs amok within society, and the goal of the terrorists to incite fear and terror has been achieved. And all it took was a telephone call; little effort for a large response.

And it is a costly response. Trust in the state to reliably  ensure the security and safety of the population begins to erode. Closing down business slows commerce and it has its price.  Over 150,000 people were evacuated as a result of hundreds of bomb threats achieved through anonymous telephone calls made against major public buildings. Schools, hospitals, hotels, shopping malls, airports, railway stations and universities have all been targeted by bomb threats since Monday in some thirty Russian cities.

In Moscow and St. Petersburg alone dozens of buildings had to be evacuated on Wednesday. Thorough searches disclosed nothing of alarm to be discovered. Not even the merest sign of explosive devices to be uncovered anywhere in the search areas. Russian security services busy investigating the calls are mum. The Russian media offer their own theories relating to what or who could be directing the calls, resulting from anonymous tips from among sources within law enforcement.

The RIA Novosti news agency theorized that the calls have been emanating from Ukraine. And as well, that information was in the hands of security services identifying that those behind the telephone attacks have connections to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; their identities soon to be released and placed on international wanted lists. "The source" had been tracked down, went the rumours, and had been identified by Russia's Federal Security Service.

From Kaliningrad in the west to Vladivostok in the far east of that vast Russian territory, hundreds of facilities have been disrupted. One mall administrator in Bryansk informed the newspaper Kommersant that her cellphone had displayed a number with a +88 designation, the Bangladeshi country code, though the caller had spoken Russian, telling her to "leave the building" since "there is a bomb inside".

A security guard blocks the entrance to the State Department Store, GUM, due to the bomb threat    Reuters