Police have refuted media reports of a “petrol bomb” set off under Education Minister Shifa Mohamed’s car last Thursday while she was in Jamaluddin School.
A press statement issued today explained that police received reports of a blast from a bottle exploding inside the school compound at 8:00am on Thursday.
A second bottle blew up 20 minutes later while officers were at the scene.
“The investigation so far has revealed that what exploded was a ‘PET’ bottle, there was no trace of petrol in the bottle and it was not made with any kind of explosive substance,” reads the police statement.
It added that media reports of a “petrol bomb” detonating under Education Minister Shifa’s car outside Jamaluddin School “contained false information.”
Police Sub-Inspector Ahmed Shiyam told Minivan News that the substances inside the bottle produced a gas which caused the plastic bottle to burst with a bang.
“It’s the sort of thing kids do for fun,” he said. “But after the reports that it was petrol bomb we had a lot of people calling us very concerned.”
Police had no information to suggest that Shifa’s car had been deliberately targeted, Shiyam said.
Police appealed to media outlets to cover such incidents “more responsibly” to avoid unduly alarming the public and parents of school children.
The Education Minister was not responding to calls at time of press.
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