Former New Mexico State University Student Sentenced to Prison for Making False Bomb Threats

ALBUQUERQUE—This morning, a federal judge in Las Cruces, New Mexico sentenced Daud Anwar, 30, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, to 24 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, for his conviction for making false bomb threats. Anwar’s sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Kenneth J. Gonzales and Carol K.O. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the Albuquerque Division of the FBI.

On March 21, 2012, Anwar was charged with using electronic communication devices on March 3, 2011, to falsely claim that buildings on the New Mexico State University (NMSU) campus would be damaged or destroyed by an explosive device. Anwar was arrested on March 27, 2012, and has been in federal custody since that time. On April 30, 2012, Anwar pled guilty to the indictment without the benefit of a plea agreement.

According to court records, on the morning of March 3, 2011, Anwar, who was then a student at NMSU, used telephones and the Internet to falsely claim that there was a bomb on the NMSU campus and to threaten that there would be casualties if the campus was not evacuated. Anwar made six separate false bomb threats that morning that caused substantial disruption at NMSU and resulted in the evacuation of parts of the NMSU campus as law enforcement officials and university administrators responded to the bomb threats.

“Threats like the ones made by Daud Anwar are serious crimes and warrant a serious response,” said U.S. Attorney Gonzales. “In a post-9/11 world, each and every bomb threat must be taken seriously. False bomb threats drain our already overburdened public safety agencies and prevent them from pursuing real threats to our security and other serious crimes. For this reason, we will diligently investigate and prosecute these cases.”

“The safety and security of our schools and communities are of the utmost importance to the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes partnerships with the NMSU Police and Computer Security Team and the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” said Special Agent in Charge Lee. “Threats like the ones in this case are taken very seriously by the FBI and all of our law enforcement partners.”

The case was investigated by the Las Cruces Resident Agency of the FBI and the NMSU Police Department with assistance from the Computer Security Team in the NMSU Information and Communications Technology Department and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marisa A. Lizarraga of the U.S. Attorney’s Las Cruces Branch Office.