JAKARTA - Peru police arrested a man suspected of carrying out a wave of bomb threats against schools, exits, hospitals to airports in the United States, triggering evacuations, flight delays, and other disruptions in five states earlier this month.
The suspect is known to be Eddie Manuel Nunez Santos (33) from Lima, Peru. He is accused of making 150 bomb threats, some of which were addressed to Jewish institutions on Rossh Hashanah holiday, the US Prosecutor's Office for the South District of New York said in a press release.
All these threats were proven to be hoaxes, the prosecutor's office said. Meanwhile, a Justice Department spokesman said the suspect's motive in several cases was to get teens to send him explicit sexual photos, or he would detonate a bomb.
It is not yet known whether Nunez Santos, who faces extradition to the United States based on federal charges in New York City, gets a legal representative or not.
Allegations of threats, submitted via email, were aimed at targets in New York City, Alaska, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Arizona, officials said in a press statement.
One of the threats cited as examples by prosecutors was: "I put up a lot of bombs in all schools in your School District. The bomb will explode in a few hours. I will smile happily when your family cries for your death."
The threatening message led to the evacuation of 1,100 students from 20 schools in Pennsylvania, authorities said.
The allegation of the threat "corresponding to immediate mobilization by federal and state authorities, diverting important resources for law enforcement and public safety, has left hundreds of US settlements across the country frightened," US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in an eight-page indictment, Nunez Santos was charged with two counts of crimes related to the messages he allegedly sent to many recipients in New York, threatening communications between states and committing fraud. Each faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
He was also charged with attempted sexual exploitation of children, attempted coercion and persuasion of minors and attempted child pornography acceptance. The allegation, in which he could face up to 30 years in prison if found guilty, stems from his alleged attempt to persuade a 15-year-old girl in Westchester, New York, to send him explicit sexual photos.
He added that the investigation into Nunez was led by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York. Authorities tracked Nunez through internet communications and calls, according to a press statement.
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