Government Administrative Centre evacuated

Last Thursday around 9 a.m. workers at the government Administrative Centre located on the reclamation site on Bay Street had to evacuate the building sparking rumors that a bomb was on the premises.

A person who works in the building but who wished to remain anonymous told SEARCHLIGHT, that at about 8:40 a.m. electricity went, then about ten minutes later, the lights flickered on and off and the building’s alarm sounded.{{more}} “Some people began leaving the building saying there was a bomb,” the employee said.

Persons who remained in the building were asked to leave by the fire department when they arrived on the scene, so they had to assemble on the side street outside. Security personnel also prevented pedestrians from walking on the sidewalk in front of the building.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security Godfred Pompey told SEARCHLIGHT in an exclusive interview that he was in the building at the time the alarm went off and that it is standard procedure to vacate a building when an alarm is sounded.

He shrugged off reports that there was a bomb on the premises claiming that it was the power-loss that triggered the alarm. He stated that he left soon after to attend a meeting so he was not present when the workers were allowed to return into the building.

Pompey said that the country now has a canine unit comprising three dogs. One for detecting narcotics, sourced by the Port Authority while the two bomb sniffers are part of the Cricket World Cup (CWC) legacy. He further stated that the dogs were acquired for about US $6,000 each from a firm in the United States and that they have already made finds at the ports.

The Administrative Centre was completed in 1993 and houses the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministries of Finance, Planning and National Security, Trade, and Foreign Affairs with the National Insurance Service offices on the ground floor.