Jan 18, 2013 01:01 AM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Daud Anwar, a 30-year-old former New Mexico State University student, has been sentenced to two years in prison by a federal court in Las Cruces for making false bomb threats on March 3, 2011. The jail term will be followed by three years of supervised release.

On, March 3, 2011, Anwar, who was then a NMSU student, made six separate false bomb threats on the campus using a telephone and the Internet. . He threatened that there would be casualties and buildings would be damaged or destroyed by the explosive device if the university was not evacuated immediately. Subsequently, the campus was evacuated amid widespread panic among students, lecturers and college administration.

Anwar, a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was arrested on March 27, 2012, and pleaded guilty on April 30, 2012. False bomb threat charges carries up to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of $250,000. 

"Threats like the ones made by Daud Anwar are serious crimes and warrant a serious response," Gonzales said in a statement. "In a post-9/11 world, each and every bomb threat must be taken seriously. False bomb threats drain our already overburdened public safety agencies and prevent them from pursuing real threats to our security and other serious crimes."

Lee said that cases such as false bomb threats will be taken up seriously as the safety and security of  schools and communities are top-most priorities to FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

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