AN Israeli court sentenced a teenager to 10 years in prison for making bomb threats targeting airports as well as Jewish Community Centres and schools in the U.S. from 2016 to 2017.

He was additionally sentenced to pay a fine of 16,000 dollars, the Tel Aviv court said on Thursday.

The 20-year-old, arrested in southern Israel in 2017, forced evacuations across the U.S. and contributed to accusations that President Donald Trump had sparked a wave of anti-Semitism.

He also threatened a U.S. senator and targets in Australia and New Zealand.

Media has reported that the Israeli citizen also has U.S. citizenship.

The man was found guilty of acts he committed after he turned 18, which was in August 2016.

The court said he had committed around 2,000 threats by phone and email using identity-masking technology since 2015.

According to the conviction, the teenager marketed his threat services through the online marketplace AlphaBay, charging 40 dollars to call a private home and threaten a massacre, 80 dollars to threaten a school and 500 dollars to bomb threat a plane.

He received the equivalent of 873,179 shekels in the electronic currency bitcoin for the threats, the court said.

He was convicted of extortion by threats, publishing false information that causes fear and panic and money-laundering, among other charges.

–NAN

BE

– Nov. 22, 2018 @ 16:49 GMT |