Saskatoon and Regina were no exceptions in North America when it came to bomb threat hoaxes on Thursday.
The Bridge City and the Queen City were two of dozens of major population centres across the continent to receive a bomb threat, which forced emergency crews to respond to landmarks and businesses throughout the day.
Saskatoon police said in a news release a bomb threat was emailed to a business on the 2600 block of Millar Avenue, forcing the building’s evacuation around 12:30 p.m. as a precaution.
A patrol car was sent to the area, but workers were able to return shortly after.
Meanwhile, Regina police said four businesses in the city received the same threat via email. It warned “a bomb will be detonated in the place of business unless the recipient of the email submits payment by BitCoin.
“At this time, it does not appear these messages pose a credible threat to the public; they appear to be unfounded,” the news release said.
Police in both cities confirmed the email was similar to others received across the US and Canada.
Saskatchewan RCMP said there were no reports of similar emailed bomb threats in any of the communities in their jurisdiction but cautioned people to be alert and contact police if they see something similar in their email inbox.