Italian guilty of NHS bomb threats in first Covid wave

AN ITALIAN living in Berlin has been convicted of extortion after sending bomb threats to the NHS at the height of the pandemic, demanding £10million in Bitcoins.

Emil Apreda, 33, posed as a far-right extremist and threatened to explode a bomb at an unspecified hospital in the UK unless his demands were met.

He sent 18 emails over six weeks, starting on April 26 last year, and also threatened to blow up a Black Lives Matter protest and murder MPS.

Apreda was eventually tracked by the National Crime Agency to a flat in Berlin and was arrested by armed officers.

Following a trial in Berlin, he was convicted of extortion and sentenced to three years in prison, but was granted bail until the judgment is ratified.

Apreda stood trial in Germany rather than the UK because the authorities feared extradition would be difficult. In the UK, he would have probably faced terrorism charges and received 14 years.

Tim Court, of the NCA’S national cyber crime unit, said Apreda had no known links to the UK, but it was one of the most “significant threats” to UK infrastructure for some time coming at the height of the first Covid wave.

He said: “This occurred in late April, early May. We had seen the collapse or near-collapse of the Italian healthcare system and, sadly, in America, a significant rise in far-right extremist activity.

“In that context of a far-right surge, a worldwide pandemic and a vulnerable healthcare system that was valiantly fighting its own battles, we recognised we had to step in pretty quickly and make sure everything that could be done was done.”

Nigel Leary, deputy director of the

‘Apreda made cynical attempts to bring down our health service when it was at its most vulnerable’

cyber crime unit, said: “Apreda made cynical attempts to bring down our health service when it was at its most vulnerable.

“The impact of this was huge and it’s only right that he faces jail time.

“Protecting the NHS and the public was an absolute priority throughout this investigation. Apreda carried out his crimes hidden behind a computer screen in Germany. Cyber crime knows no borders and so our work with international partners is key to tackling it.”