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JEFF CAPARAS

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — A representative from the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines was present in Tuesday&#x27;s interagency conference on the series of bomb threats sent to government agencies after the hoax was traced to Japan.<div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/12/bomb-threat-at-denr-office-false-alarm-says-qcpd-1611">Bomb threat at DENR office &#x27;false alarm&#x27;, says QCPD</a></div>The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) said the representative requested an internal investigation in Japan. “We advised them of what transpired, we showed them the results of the extracted emails showing that this email originated from this same suspect we had last year who was propagating bomb threats na it’s a hoax,&quot; CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said.On Monday, the Departments of Energy, Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Information and Communication Technology, Transportation, Education, and Commission on Audit received a bomb threat sent via email by a certain Takahiro Karasawa.Ramos said in 2021, Japan conducted an investigation, forcing the &quot;real&quot; Takahiro Karasawa to surface. The man denied sending the emails.“The person who owns the name surfaced and denied anything to do with it, said it’s a stolen identity,&quot; Ramos said. It is not yet clear what is the motive and nationality of the threat-sender.“We have to ascertain sino siya, we have to have a suspect, no action can be taken if you don’t have a suspect &#x27;di ba?”Ramos said this is the third time that government agencies received a threat via email from the same person.On September 8, 2023, an email was also sent to 6 government agencies in the country. The email had a bomb threat targeting the MRT-3 system.The Philippines, as well as Malaysia, were again hit by a similar threat on Monday.“We have full details of this malicious information that has affected several government agencies in NCR alone. 28 government agencies have received this form of email from a foreign national from Japan. Efforts to locate this have been identified to the same origin. It did not come from different sources but it came from one origin,&quot; Ramos said.The CICC advised the public and employees of government agencies not to distribute such email.Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police is also doing its part to coordinate with other law enforcement agencies outside the country. “We’ve been tracing and we tried to coordinate with other countries, because it’s not only happening here in country... As of now we do not see any motive, any gain from that individual except from creating unnecessary disturbances,&quot; said PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda. The Bureau of Immigration (BI) also initiated an investigation on the bomb threats on government offices. In a statement, BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said that he has ordered a thorough investigation on the identity of the prankster.Tansingco said that they will be working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to determine whether the suspect is in the country.<div><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/2/13/-alarming-nbi-investigates-bomb-threat-on-government-offices-1121">&#x27;Alarming&#x27;: NBI investigates bomb threat on government offices</a></div>&quot;We will also be verifying if this is his real identity, or if he is a prankster using a fictitious name,&quot; Tansingco said. Tansingco warned that they would immediately be able to implement hold orders, blacklist orders, or arrest warrants issued against the suspect. &quot;The national government is not taking this lightly… Any security threat shall be met with the harshest penalties of the law,&quot; he added. Tansingco said that a quick check of their database revealed at least four namesakes, who are all not in the country. The BI said that it will forward results of their verification to the NBI and DOJ to assist in the investigation. The NBI has also started its investigation following a directive of Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla. The NBI has also initiated collaboration with the Japan Police Attache, other law enforcement agencies, and emergency responders to evaluate the threat. The Armed Forces of the Philippines meanwhile said the bomb threats are a cyber attack.AFP spokesperson Col. Francel Margareth Padilla said the AFP has been coordinating with cyber forensics experts from the PNP, CICC and NBI to locate the suspect.RELATED VIDEO<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AFrsBk16-BI?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

The NBI has initiated collaboration with the Japan Police Attache to comprehensively evaluate the threat.

The NBI has initiated collaboration with the Japan Police Attache to comprehensively evaluate the threat.

Japan, Philippine authorities target prankster sending bomb hoax

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Japan, Philippine authorities target prankster sending bomb hoax

JEFF CAPARAS,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 13, 2024 05:14 PM PHT

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