Police reportedly took up to 40 minutes to respond to a bank bomb scare which forced a mass evacuation of the area.

As staff waited for emergency help, cars and pedestrians moved past the building for “quite some time”, it was claimed.

But yesterday Police defended their actions, saying highly trained officers conducted a sweep of the scene.

The drama at the Bermuda Commercial Bank Building occurred at 9 a.m.

Allied World Assurance Company receptionist Nelia Carreiro told The Royal Gazette she received a threatening call.

“The first thing I heard was the click of the payphone and then I heard a rough, muffled male voice which said, ‘You have two bombs in the building,' and hung up.”

Ms Carreiro said she wasn't going to take the threat seriously, but informed co-worker Nicole Correia, the fifth floor warden, who called 911.

An evacuation notice was sent throughout the building and the building was cleared several minutes after the prank call was received.

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines confirmed that the staffs of Allied World Assurance Company Ltd, Bermuda Commercial Bank and TeleBermuda International Ltd evacuated the building and those of The Living Centre and the Bermuda Sun Ltd vacated their premises as a result of the scare.

More than 150 employees were evacuated.

“A brief inquiry surrounding the bomb threat is underway,” he said.

Workers milling outside the building seemed unconcerned and many did not initially know why they had been required to evacuate the building.

An Allied World employee said they did not find out why they had vacated the building until they got outside.

However, another employee was concerned about the response time by the Police.

“It was half and hour before we had emergency support,” she said. “If there is a shortage of Policemen what are the reserves for?”

She noted that motor and pedestrian traffic continued to move past the building for quite some time.

Mr. Caines did not address the response time of the Police but said Police personnel on the scene established a general perimeter for safety purposes.

That perimeter consisted of an officer at the Parliament and Victoria Street junction preventing traffic from entering Victoria Street.

However, officers with the Emergency Ordinance Disposal (EOD) did not arrive on the scene until about 40 minutes after the 911 call had been made.

The three EOD members, whom Mr. Caines said were “highly trained officers who assess the risks and accordingly make the appropriate decisions”, conducted a preliminary sweep and pronounced the building was safe at 10.12 am.

EOD Sgt. Steve Coshum said two other sweeps were conducted, first with floor wardens and senior members of staff and then with all employees under the direction of their floor fire wardens to notify authorities if they found any suspicious articles, which officially ended the search at 10.40 am.

“Our level of search is determined in consultation with building managers,” Sgt. Coshum said.

He added that if his department thought there was a bomb inside “we would take a week to search the building”.

Vice President of Allied World Scott Carmilani was in New York City when the World Trade Center exploded.

He was on the fifth floor when Ms Carreiro received the call and he took the bomb scare very seriously.

“It's not something you can really fool around with,” Mr. Carmilani said, although he thought the scare most likely a hoax.

The vice president notified several floors to evacuate and then re-entered the building with the bomb squad to help search for suspicious items before employees were allowed to resume their daily routine.

“We've checked the building out floor by floor and we're back to work,” he said.