A 26-year-old Nigerian master’s student, Somtochukwu Okwuoha, awaits sentencing in December after being remanded in custody by a UK jury for making terrorist threats against Dundee University in Scotland.
According to the BBC, Okwuoha claimed affiliation with ISIS, an international terrorist organization, and threatened to bomb the university.
He also expressed intentions to carry out a chemical attack in Dundee.
ISIS, short for Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, is a Sunni jihadist group with a violent ideology, that has distanced itself from al Qaeda.
The jury found Okwuoha guilty on seven charges related to terrorist threats, and he now faces potential jail time and deportation to Nigeria.
Presiding over the case at the Perth Sheriff Court, Sheriff William Wood will weigh the Crown’s request for Okwuoha’s deportation.
During the trial, witnesses testified that Okwuoha had informed university staff of his plans for mass murder on the Dundee University campus, claiming military expertise in bomb-making and the release of a deadly virus.
Keith Mackle, a retired director of student services, recounted receiving threatening emails, one stating, “Expect a massive bomb explosion at the University of Dundee. I have contacted ISIS terrorists to plant bombs on campus.”
Accommodation officer Shane Taylor shared that Okwuoha accused him of racism and expressed a desire to retaliate against Scottish people by wiping them out.
Okwuoha, currently in custody at Perth, was convicted of threatening to murder university staff, committing terrorist acts, and making false claims about explosives and biological weapons between December 2021 and June 2022.
This incident follows a separate case in June where another Nigerian student, Cyril Kenneth, faced apprehension in the UK for alleged attempts to sexually harass minors in Belfast.
Police uncovered evidence of Kenneth grooming and sexually harassing two girls aged 14 and 15.
