Suspect in Pitt bomb threats avoids extradition
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The self-proclaimed leader of the Scottish National Liberation Army who was charged in 2012 with emailing 40 bomb threats targeting the University of Pittsburgh is in ill health and will not be extradited to facethe charges.
A court in Edinburgh, Scotland, ruled last month that Adam Busby, 69, who has been dubbed the “tartan terrorist,” was too ill to be sent to the United States to face federal charges. The court noted he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2009, is bedridden in a nursing home and has dementia.
In addition to the Pitt bomb threats, Busby also faces charges of emailing bomb threats to federal courthouses in Pittsburgh, Erie and Johnstown and with threatening then-U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton.
Authorities here have never given a motive for why he targeted Pitt and the federal facilities.
According to the judgment in Edinburgh, Busby “has had significant cognitive impairment probably relating to his [multiple sclerosis] which although not particularly progressive did impair his functioning to a significant level. [Busby] was unfit for trial in 2015 and this remains the case now.”
In response, acting U.S. Attorney Soo C. Song said, “We are analyzing the opinion and the legal issues presented, and are considering our options.”
A federal grand jury here indicted Busby on multiple counts of wire fraud, maliciously conveying false information, international extortion and threatening a federal officer. All are feloniesthat carry prison terms.
The bomb threats involving Pitt were mostly emailed to Pittsburgh media outlets, including the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Sent between March 30 and April 21, 2012, they caused 136 evacuations of Pitt buildings, including dormitories at all hours, disrupting the rhythms of college life.
The incidents stopped only when the university rescinded a $50,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest and prosecution of whoever was responsible. An email to the Pitt news signed by “The Threateners” took responsibility for the threats and reiterated an earlier demand that Pitt withdraw the reward.
Investigators were initially hamstrung by the use of technology in the threats. Most were emailed to news media using anonymous remailers in European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden that require little technical knowledge to utilize but make it virtually impossible to trace, according to cybersecurity specialists.
Busby was a leader of the ScottishNational Liberation Army, which seeks independence for his homeland. He has used different methods, but his aim has long been the same — to send a message to British leaders that his native Scotland deserves independence.
Shortly before he was indicted by a federal grand jury here, he was released from prison on a 2010 conviction in Ireland for emailing two bomb threats in 2006 to Heathrow Airport in London. Those threats, which cited specific international flights, claimed to be from the Scottish National Liberation Army, according to The Irish Times.
In July 2012, he was detained in Dublin on a European Union warrant seeking his extradition to Scotland for additional charges of sending threats, according to Irish media outlets.
He is charged with making threats in 2010 against then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and claiming buildings would be bombed and the English watersupply contaminated, Irish news media reported. He was extradited to Scotland in February 2015.
The SNLA was made illegal in Ireland in 2005; the organization has been responsible for bombs, letter bombs and anthrax threats over the years, according to the Times.