Bomb scare puts NCB on pause

Operations came to a halt at the Kingstown branches of the National Commercial Bank (NBC), after a bomb threat was phoned in. The call came through the switchboard at the main branch on Back Street opposite the Central Market.{{more}}

The employee who answered the call told SEARCHLIGHT that around 2:15 p.m. when she answered a female voice said; “We gonna blow up your bank”, then the person hung up the phone.

The Police and Fire Department were called in and the building was evacuated; the employees had to gather in the Courthouse yard while investigations were carried out. The area around the building was cordoned off and traffic on Back Street was cleared from Melville Street to Foresters Corner.



As a precaution the other branches of the NCB were closed, as the caller didn’t specify which of the buildings she was referring to. The Methodist Building on Sharpe Street that houses the Development Bank and the NBC’s Recovery Company was also evacuated. The building also houses the Commerce and Intellectual Property office (CIPO), The Ministry of Legal Affairs, the Centre for Enterprise Development (CED) and Baptiste and Company Law Firm. The building’s occupants, including Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Colin Williams and Attorney General Judith Jones-Morgan, gathered on the other side of the street in front of the Seventh Day Adventist Church building until they were allowed to return to their work place.

After conducting their investigations the police determined that the threat was a hoax and the branches were permitted to be reopen. When the main branch opposite the Central Market was reopened at 4:45 p.m., patrons rushed in to complete their weekend transactions.