A phoney bomb threat aboard a passenger train has led to charges for three teenagers.
The Chatham-Kent Police Service said an anonymous source made a 911 call on Wednesday at around 9 p.m. claiming there was a bomb on their VIA Rail train. Dispatch operators determined that the caller was on a westbound train heading towards Chatham.
Authorities stopped the train near Sass Road and Colborne Street before it arrived at the Queen Street station. Officers boarded the train and located the alleged caller, a 15-year-old boy who was accompanied by three other youths.
Following an investigation, police learned that the bomb threat was a hoax that had been called in as a joke. It was also learned that the 15-year-old caller and two of the other youths were breaching release conditions prohibiting them from associating with each other.
As a result, the trio were all charged with breaching their release conditions while the 15-year-old was additionally charged with public mischief. All three were taken to police headquarters and held in custody overnight for a bail hearing.
Police officials are reassuring the public that the incident was isolated and there is no threat to public safety.
