Bomb threats leaving Jamaicans on edge

With the growing number of bomb threats being made in the Corporate Area, many people were consumed by fear at the New Kingston Business Centre where another one was reported yesterday.

When THE STAR visited the location, employees of various businesses located within the centre were sitting across the street, waiting for the police to clear the building of any potential bombs. One woman almost jumped in front of a moving vehicle when a car drove over a plastic bottle, the 'pop' causing her to jump and scream in fear. Other persons told the news team that they were not taking the threat likely and are fearful that these consistent bomb threats could possibly desensitise people to the real thing.

Ainsley Dickenson, maintenance manager at East Japanese restaurant, told THE STAR that he does not take threats lightly and believes no one in Jamaican should.

"It a mess up people mind, so much bomb threat, bomb threat, when will the real one go off? When will it be real?" he questioned.

"With how things stay these days, yuh affi tek everything serious, just like if yuh deh pan the street and yuh offend a man and the man seh 'Yow, mi will kill yuh, enuh', yuh afi tek him serious, because that's where the world is now," Dickenson added.

He also said that despite the island being small and bomb explosions being uncommon, Jamaicans should still be cautious.

"People a seh is a troublemaker and them watch too much movie. Hey you never can tell when the real one a guh off and the real one might guh off when you are at that location, suh don't ever tek it lightly," Dickenson warned.

He added that the bomb threats have also affected his daughter, as her school received one yesterday.

"Even this morning ma daughter call me, 'Pick me up, there is a bomb threat at the school, there's a bomb threat at the school'. So mi afi call her mother and tell her to pick up right away," Dickenson said, adding that the threats are disrupting productivity.

"It's an inconvenience fi everybody. Just like work now, everybody on the street and we cah get a word on when this will be done. Nuff workers a wonder if dem aguh get pay todeh because some employers nah guh wah pay dem workers," Dickenson said. "When them finish if is a next hour a suh can we open the restaurant? What sense would that make? Everybody hear that the bomb threat on the building, nobody really wants to come out and eat."

He also told THE STAR that despite no explosion so far, he believes that it is possible for bombs to be made here in the island because of social media and the Internet.

"YouTube teach yuh how fi duh everything and all these young people. It teaches everything, and how the world operate, all a these young people now, them a experiment," Dickenson said. "Some a dem desperate, some a dem have mental problems. Suh yeah, they will do it."

Calice Laughtman, who also works in the New Kingston area, opined that Jamaican criminals are more than capable of building bombs and is now fearful that one day, these bomb threats will be real.

"I'm very fearful especially because we work in a high rise building on the 10th floor, so if a bomb threat really happens, weh wi aguh duh? We aguh dead! There is no running or escaping," Laughtman said. She added that threats like these significantly affect employees financially.

"When these issues occur, we have to stop work and we don't get paid for it," she said.