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Nothing suspicious found after bomb search at Coquitlam's Gleneagle secondary

Things were returning to normal at Gleneagle secondary on Friday a day after a bomb threat forced evacuation of the school.

Things were returning to normal at Gleneagle secondary on Friday a day after a bomb threat forced evacuation of the school.

Students were briefly allowed to return to the building to pick up their things but a professional development day Friday for teachers meant that classes were not in session.

On Thursday night, Coquitlam RCMP Cpl. Jamie Chung told The Tri-City News that nothing suspicious was found after an extensive search of the building.

"The school has been searched," he said. "Now the teachers are going to do their own searching in their respective areas."

Chung also confirmed that police were aware of a Twitter account where a poster claimed responsibility for the bomb threat.

A person with the handle @TheInstigate tweeted about the incident throughout the day, including one post that came in at around the same time the threat was called in to the Gleneagle office.

"Gleneagle Secondary School there are bombs pls evacuate now," the person posted at around 10:20 a.m. A tweet several hours later said: "Sorry Gleneagle secondary school, did I scare you."

The poster also took responsibility for a similar bomb threat at a school in Ontario and on Friday was posting about an incident in Calgary.

There is no way to verify the accuracy of the Twitter reports although The Tri-City News attempted to make contact to the author of @TheInstigate, whose page gives a location of New Brunswick.

At the school, Gleneagle principal Gerald Shong thanked staff, students, parents and police for their assistance and patience throughout the ordeal. In a message to parents, he said that Thursday was an "extraordinary day at Gleneagle" and that he was "proud that we took all the necessary steps to ensure the safety of our students in the building."

More than 1,300 students were moved to nearby Scott Creek middle school after the threat was phoned in.

A bomb-sniffing dog was brought in to search the school and a command centre was set up on the property. Paramedics, fire officials and city staff were also on sight.

By 1:30 p.m., most students has been dismissed and night school classes scheduled for the evening at Gleneagle were moved to Riverside secondary in Port Coquitlam.

gmckenna@tricitynews.com