Newspapers do not normally report bomb threats, unless they lead to some form of accident such as when some time ago a police dog was injured during a search for a bomb after a threat had been made at the law courts in Valletta – a favourite target for people with nothing better to do.

The media chooses not to report such instances for a simple reason – so as not to give the perpetrators the satisfaction of having their irresponsible action given undue attention, and so as not to entice others into doing the same thing.

It must be said that the police and the Armed Forces react to each and every bomb threat that is received, be it at public or private places, and conduct the necessary searches to make sure that no bomb has actually been placed. Thankfully, threats turn out to be simply hoaxes, aimed at causing disruption.

Such threats are however a serious crime – apart from wasting people’s time and money – and are dealt with harshly by the police and the law courts, if and when the perpetrators are caught.

The Malta Independent last Thursday however chose to publish a report about a bomb threat that was received in the Gozo law courts because the incident exposed security shortcomings which should be seen to before some accident takes place.

Although bomb threats in Gozo are rather rare – and this newspaper was informed that the bomb threat at the Gozo law courts was only the second one in 16 years, a far cry from what happens at the Valletta courts where bombs threats are rather common – it is not right that there is no bomb disposal unit present on the island to deal with such situations.

When the bomb threat was received last Tuesday, personnel from the AFM bomb disposal unit travelled from Malta by ferry, arriving 75 minutes after the call was received.

This newspaper was told that helicopters could be used if absolutely necessary, but a bomb scare does not justify the need for AFM personnel to be taken to the sister island by helicopter.

This means that whereas in Malta, bomb disposal experts are on site within a few minutes of the threat being received, when something like this happens in Gozo it takes them more than an hour to arrive, mainly because bomb scares are not considered serious enough to warrant the expense of using helicopters for a faster reaction.

Although, as said earlier, bomb threats usually turn out to be hoaxes, one can never know and it is quite risky to take such an approach. Imagine a bomb threat that turns out to be a real bomb... and somebody working at the place that receives such a threat locates it while the AFM specialised personnel are crossing the channel and would be literally trapped on the boat as the seconds tick away.

This is not a serious way of tackling such a situation. A bomb disposal unit should be present in Gozo on a 24/7 basis and, if this is not possible, the least that should be done is that whenever bomb threats are received the AFM personnel are transferred to Gozo by helicopter so as to save time... and possibly lives.

This newspaper also pointed out other security shortcomings at the law courts in Gozo – there is no walk-through metal security detectors and security x-ray scanners, and often bailiffs have to act as security guards in the absence of policemen.

The government should take these matters seriously. The Gozo Ministry and the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry should work hand in hand to sort out these problems.