New Haven police arrested three juveniles Tuesday in connection with a bomb threat hoax phoned in to the Burger King at 169 Whalley Ave. Monday afternoon.

Police were able to trace the call to a pay phone outside the restaurant. Officers on patrol nearby spotted three youths running away from a second pay phone up the street and detained them.

Investigators found no suspicious packages inside the Burger King.

The youths, whose names were withheld by the New Haven Police Department in accordance with state law, were charged with threatening, second-degree reckless endangerment, second-degree harassment, and falsely reporting an incident.

Other bomb threats have been made from pay phones in the same vicinity over the past few weeks, police said. While there has been an increase in bomb threat calls in New Haven since Sept. 11, all have been hoaxes.

“Bomb threat or anthrax hoaxes are not harmless pranks and the people who initiate them need to realize the consequences of their actions,” New Haven Police Chief Melvin H. Wearing said in a written statement. “The individuals responsible for these irresponsible acts which are intended to scare and cause disruption, especially the threats directed at schools, will be punished to the full extent of the law.”

–Yale Daily News