A teenager has been arrested in Invercargill for sending bomb threats to organisations across New Zealand.
Southland Police executed a search warrant at a residential address yesterday afternoon, acting on information from Auckland-based detectives.
The teenage boy was taken into custody without incident and charged with two counts of threatening to kill or do grievous bodily harm. He will appear in Invercargill Youth Court today.
The arrest follows Operation Irena, an investigation into email threats initially sent to Auckland institutions before spreading to organisations nationwide.
Southland Area Commander Inspector Mike Bowman said no explosive materials or items of concern were found during the search.
"Initial indications suggest the young person had no capability to follow through on the threats," Bowman said.
"Regardless, threats of this nature are taken extremely seriously, and yesterday's swift action by Police reflects this."
The investigation remains ongoing and further charges may be considered.
Bowman said he wanted to reassure the community about the search findings. "I want to reassure the community that no items of concern or explosive materials were found as part of the search yesterday."
The case is now before the Youth Court, preventing police from making further comment.
The operation began after bomb threats were emailed to multiple institutions. Auckland detectives gathered intelligence that led to the Invercargill address.
The swift resolution suggests police took the threats seriously despite early indications the teenager lacked the means to carry them out.