Sydney schools evacuated after bomb threats

Nine schools in Australia's largest city Sydney in New South Wales were evacuated on Monday after receiving bomb threats, days after several educational institutions were locked down in the same province following similar threats.

Just before 4 pm (local time) New South Wales Police said that "Police operations have concluded at a number of schools across Sydney. Investigations are continuing".

According to media reports, one of the schools involved confirmed it had received a bomb threat via an electronic voice message.

A police spokeswoman had earlier confirmed a number of operations were underway with the schools placed into "precautionary" lockdown.

However, she said there was "nothing to substantiate that there is anything serious at any of them at this stage".

The NSW Department of Education also confirmed it was working with police after "several schools received threats today".

"Each school is taking precautionary measures to ensure the safety of its students and no students are in danger," a department spokeswoman said.

"Police are attending at each location as a precaution. Concerned parents can contact their child's school."

NSW police said the threats were "very low level" and there was "nothing at all" to suggest the threats were related to terrorism.

Last Friday, at least 15 schools in NSW and Victoria were evacuated after receiving threatening phone calls that were
found to be hoaxes.