SAVANNAH, Ga. — A Chatham County man has been indicted for making bomb hoaxes targeting a Savannah mosque and office park, a Department of Justice press release said.
Mohammed Arafat Afaneh, 27, was indicted by a U.S. District Court grand jury on two counts of False Information and Hoaxes, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
The indictment alleges that on Nov. 17, Afaneh said information that a bomb that would detonate that afternoon at an office park on Chatham Parkway in Savannah near the federal court building. He said a bomb would detonate seven minutes before Maghrib, or afternoon prayers, inside the Islamic Center of Savannah, the release said.
Afaneh was located and arrested on state charges in Louisville, Kentucky, and transferred to the custody of U.S. Marshals after an initial appearance hearing in federal court in the Western District of Kentucky.
Responding law enforcement agencies determined both warnings were hoaxes.
Afaneh was booked into Campbell County Detention center Monday with no bond. The release said case is being investigated by the FBI, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney Darron J. Hubbard.
