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April 3, 2014

Bomb threat suspect released pending appeal

Adam Busby, indicted in August 2012 for a series of emailed bomb threats to Pitt between March 30 and April 21 that year, has been released from detention in Ireland while he appeals Scotland’s efforts to extradite him and try him on terror charges. Busby has been jailed on a European Union warrant since July 2012.

United States Attorney David J. Hickton of the Western District of Pennsylvania noted in a statement that Busby has been living since March 21 in a Dublin hostel and has no Internet access, according to the terms of his bail.

“We have taken all available legal action to extradite him to face charges in western Pennsylvania after he faces pending charges in the U.K.,” Hickton said. “We are closely monitoring the proceedings overseas and are working to obtain his extradition to the U.S. on the charges pending here.”

Busby threatened the campus with more than 40 hoax bomb notices to news media, Pitt employees and others, causing multiple building evacuations and other campus disruptions, as well as an increase in security guards and security apparatus. His indictment also charged him with international extortion for emailing (via computer servers in Austria and the Netherlands) promises that he would suspend his threats if Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg withdrew a $50,000 reward for information about the perpetrator.

Published reports show that Busby, the founder of the Scottish National Liberation Army agitating for independence from the U.K., has a history of making bomb threats and using actual letter bombs.

Nordenberg has issued a statement on Busby’s release; see related story this issue.

—Marty Levine