A Nigerian master’s student in the United Kingdom, Somtochukwu Okwuoha, will be deported to Nigeria after serving a 40-month jail term.
Mr Okwuoha was sentenced on Friday after he was found guilty of seven charges by a jury for making terror threats against Dundee University.
The 26-year-old claimed he had enlisted ISIS, an international terrorist group, to help bomb the university and told staff he planned to target the city in a chemical attack.
According to the BBC, the sheriff presiding over the case at the Perth Sheriff Court in Scotland, William Wood, told Mr Okwuoha, “Your presence in the United Kingdom is not conducive to the public good, and I make a recommendation for your deportation in due course.”
The jury also heard that the convict came to the UK in 2021 and formed a friendship with a fellow student, who rebuffed his advances.
“You were abusive towards her and tried to have her removed from her university course. The university decided to suspend you from your course and you turned your attention towards staff,” Mr Wood said.
“You threatened mass murder, terrorism, said you would plant bombs and use biological weapons.”
Witnesses’ testimonies
At trial, witnesses told the jury that Mr Okwuoha told the university staff members he planned to carry out mass murder on the Dundee University campus.
The witnesses narrated how Mr Okwuoha claimed he had a military background and was capable of making bombs and unleashing a deadly virus on the city.
A 58-year-old retired director of student services, Keith Mackle, told Perth Sheriff Court he became aware of “serious concerns” concerning Mr Okwuoha in the autumn of 2021.
He said staff members received emails making terrorist threats.
“Expect a massive bomb explosion at the University of Dundee. I have contacted ISIS terrorists to plant bombs on campus.
“I can assure you staff and students will die in great numbers. 9/11 will be a joke compared to what will happen.
“Blood will spill and flesh will be scattered,” one of the emails read.
Shane Taylor, an accommodation officer, told the court that Mr Okwuoha accused him of being racist and said he planned to wipe out Scottish people as revenge.
Mr Okwuoha, a prisoner at Perth, was found guilty of threatening to murder staff members at the university and committing terrorist crimes between December 2021 and June 2022.
READ ALSO: Nigerian student faces jail time, deportation over threat to bomb UK university
The embattled student was found guilty of threatening to commit mass murder, using biological weapons, revealing staff details to international authorities, and claiming to have planted bombs.
He was also found guilty of threatening to kill police officers and detonate bombs he claimed he had planted at Dundee University.
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