Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) have charged 45-year-old El Hachm El Moussi in connection to bomb threats issued November 1 to several schools and public facilities across the province.
“The OPP is consulting with the Federal Department of Justice to determine how the accused will appear before the Ontario Court of Justice,” they stated in a news release.
El Moussi faces two counts each for uttering threats, extortion, and mischief. He allegedly made demands for money in exchange for information on the location of explosives.
It’s unclear where El Moussi was living at the time of the bomb threats, or even if he’s ever lived in Canada. In November, El Moussi was arrested in Morocco for making bomb threats in Belgium.
The charges come after the OPP indicated they were “investigating multiple bomb threats across parts of northern and eastern Ontario” on November 1.
Police did not find any suspicious devices or actual bombs in any of the schools.
“The threats targeted multiple schools under multiple school boards and other facilities, demanding payment,” the OPP said.
Public as well as Catholic and Jewish schools closed as a result of the threats. The Northeastern Catholic District School Board kept all students home as did the District School Board Ontario North East. At least four school boards closed all of their schools.
“A bomb threat at my elementary school. This is what it feels like to be Jewish in 2023,” said X user Lorne Geller.
