THUNDER BAY — An individual detained by the Thunder Bay Police Service after bomb threats were phoned in to Thunder Bay Transit is cooperating with detectives.
No charges have been laid but the investigation continues.
Detective-Inspector John Fennell said two calls were made to transit within 10 minutes of each other at around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
"They were making the threat that there was a bomb on board one of the buses. Needless to say, it was taken very seriously, and led to an investigation throughout the whole day," Fennell said.
Arrangements were quickly made to stop and evacuate all buses that were in service at the time.
Fennell said a total of 25 buses were searched with the assistance of the Ontario Provincial Police bomb squad, and no explosive devices were found.
He said that early in the investigation, police were able to identify the location from which the phone calls were made.
"As such, a person residing in Thunder Bay has been detained. That person has been cooperating with us."
Fennell said the individual's potential involvement with the threat is still to be determined.
"Several devices can make these phone calls. So we are going through that process with our computer experts and trying to identify 100 per cent as to where that phone call originated."
He said police don't have the luxury in this kind of situation of knowing whether the perpetrator might be a child playing what he thinks is a joke, or whether it is a serious threat to public safety.
In his 28 years of service, the only similarly disruptive incidents Fennell can recall were the numerous threats made against Hammarskjold High School in 2018 and 2019.
"To essentially shut transit down for the day, I can't imagine the impact this had on the public," he said. "We've done everything we can to ensure those buses are now safe, and can resume service."
Thunder Bay Transit buses will start rolling again at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Fennell cautioned, however, that the investigation is far from over, saying "We are still concerned. You don't know what you don't know," adding that with public safety having been addressed, the focus now is on identifying the caller, and to "verify the truth" of what happened.
