Man charged in hoax threat to blow up Statue of Liberty

Smith, 42, allegedly called 911 from his iPad on April 24 threatening that “we are preparing to blow up the Statue of Liberty”, authorities said.

In response, authorities evacuated about 3,200 people from the Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island on which it rests in New York Harbor until the bomb threat was dismissed the following day.

United States Park Police spent four hours sweeping Liberty Island with the aid bomb-sniffing dogs before the all-clear was given.

A man named Abdul Rahman Yasin is suspected by authorities of involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in Manhattan.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan said Smith was arrested on Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas, and charged with one count of conveying false and misleading information and hoaxes.

Smith is accused of making several other 911 calls, including at least two in May, identifying himself as “ISIS Allah Bomb Maker”.

Alexander Hirst, an Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force in New York, wrote in the court complaint that Smith issued the warning through a service that helps hearing-impaired individuals make and receive phone calls.

Smith is expected to appear in federal court in the Northern District of Texas on Wednesday. If convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison.

The Statue of Liberty and Liberty Island were evacuated and closed to the public until the threat was declared unfounded. The complaint says the 42-year-old Smith also made calls threatening to kill police officers at the Brooklyn Bridge and to bomb Times Square. Another 18 emergency calls were made January 29-31 from an email address on his iPad, Hirst said.