Noida, Dec 19 : Panic gripped Noida in Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddha Nagar district, as several prominent educational institutions received threatening emails warning of bomb blasts in their premises.

The e-mail bomb threat, received by the Step by Step School in Sector-126, triggered an alarm in the school administration, leading to the evacuation of children and teachers, followed by heightened security checks.

The police teams rushed to the campus after they were informed about a bomb threat by the school administration. Police reached the spot, cordoned off the school premises and carried out a thorough search operation; however, nothing suspicious was found. Bomb disposal squad and dog squad were brought in to scan the classrooms, corridors, basement, playgrounds and other sensitive areas.

As no mysterious objects or explosive materials were recovered during the search, the police eventually declared it to be a hoax call.

The latest episode of bomb threats in Noida and other NCR schools marks a continuation of the disturbing trend of hoax threats, seen in the past few months, targeting educational institutions - primarily schools.

Apart from the Step by Step School, the two other schools that are reported to have received hoax threat calls include Amity School and Shiv Nadar School. The simultaneous threats via email to the cityâ??s three prestigious schools created an atmosphere of fear and trepidation among the administration as well as parents.

Meanwhile, the police have launched a detailed probe into the incident, activating its cyber cell to identify the source and sender of the hoax email. An investigation is underway to locate the IP address from which the threatening email was sent, and also to determine whether it was an act of mischief or an organised conspiracy.

The Noida Police have also appealed to the school authorities and the public at large, not to take any suspicious information lightly, but also not to pay attention to rumours and hearsay. Parents as well as the general public have been urged to immediately report any visible threat or suspicious activity to the police.

/IANS