Suspicions over bomb threat prove false

Lim Yee Hung, Chan Zhong Yang, Jayne Chor, Wendy Tuen, and Goh Wei Yin had purchased £276 worth of rice bowls to sell for charity in support of their Warwick Hitch effort. They sold three of their thirteen boxes on the 14th and 15th of January. They left the remaining boxes behind the chaplaincy building, intending to sell more later.

According to the group, they had notified both a member of the Chaplaincy and had phoned Warwick Security about the boxes, fearing that they might be confiscated. However, on 16th January, a concerned student saw the boxes and thought that they were bombs. The student, reportedly a member of the Jewish-Israeli Society, phoned Security, who then removed and destroyed the rice bowls.

The Hitch group says that while the idea of someone mistaking what they say were clearly marked boxes of rice bowls for explosives is amusing, they are also “frustrated.” They lost around £220 worth of merchandise.

“The main thing is that we told them, so they shouldn’t have thrown them away,” says Lim Yee Hung, a second year economics student. The rest of the group agrees, and say they may seek compensation.

However, according to the Chaplaincy, the Hitch group had not received permission from the appropriate sources, despite having notified security. The location where they stored the boxes was sensitive, as it was next to both the offices of the Jewish-Israeli Society and the women’s entrance to the Islamic Prayer Hall. In light of the recent conflict in Gaza and related protest activities on campus, the boxes were apparently removed so as not to cause further alarm or cause a major security incident.

The Chaplaincy also said that Security had taken the boxes to the Rootes compactor to be disposed of.

As of press time, Warwick Security had not responded to the Hitch group’s email, or to The Boar’s enquiries, so the exact reason behind the disposal of the boxes is unknown. More information is forthcoming.