Adam Stuart Busby (born 1948) is a Scottish nationalist who claims to be the founder of the Scottish National Liberation Army.[1] In 1983 after a hoax letter-bombing campaign against high-profile public figures he organised attacks from Dublin involving anthrax hoaxes, bomb threats, and genuine parcel bombs.[2] In 1997 he was jailed in Ireland for two hoax phone threats against Scottish media organisations.[3][4]
Early life
editBusby was associated with the separatist group called the Scottish Liberation Army. He joined the British army and trained briefly in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.[3][5]
Career
editIn 1983 letter bombs were sent to the Ministry of Defence, oil companies and public figures including Lady Diana Spencer and the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. The device sent to Thatcher was active and was opened by parliamentarian Robert Key but there was no explosion. Busby fled to Dublin after the letter-bombing campaign.[2][3] He reportedly tried to join forces with the Provisional Irish Republican Army, but the offer is said to have been refused.[3] He organised attacks from Dublin involving anthrax hoaxes, bomb threats, and genuine parcel bombs.[2]
In 1997, Busby was jailed in Ireland for two hoax phone threats against Scottish media organisations.[3][4]
In 1999, he then reportedly formed the short lived Republican Revenge Group (RRG),[6] a proposed Pan-Celtic militant organisation.[7] He was questioned by the gardaí in Dublin later that year regarding an RRG blackmail plot, threatening to contaminate English and Welsh water supplies with weedkiller unless then-Prime Minister Tony Blair withdrew from Northern Ireland.[8][9]
In May 2006 he sent threats by email from Charleville Mall public library to BAA at London Heathrow Airport claiming bombs were on two New York flights.[4] BAA did not take the threats seriously. Busby denied making the threats.
In September 2006, the Sunday Times reported that Busby might be targeted for extradition to the United States to face terror charges. Police in Ireland were said to have agreed to help the FBI, MI5 and Special Branch to investigate a series of e-mails to the US about how to contaminate US water supplies. They also reported that an email, believed to have been sent from Canada, contained a warning to their Glasgow office threatening to poison water supplies in England.[10]
In July 2010 he was sentenced by a Dublin court to four years in jail for the May 2006 threats by email to BAA at London Heathrow Airport claiming bombs were on two New York flights. Two of the years were suspended due to his age and health, as he has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair.[2]
In 2010, Busby was alleged to have made threats against then-Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown.[11]
On 15 August 2012, a United States federal grand jury returned two indictments charging Busby, a resident of Ballymun, Dublin, Ireland,[4] with emailing bomb threats targeting the University of Pittsburgh, three federal courthouses and a federal officer. A separate four-count indictment charged Mr Busby with, on 20 and 21 June, maliciously conveying false information through the Internet claiming bombs had been placed at federal courthouses in Pittsburgh, Erie, and Johnstown in Pennsylvania.[12][13]
Busby was released from an Irish prison on 21 March 2014 and was reported to be living in a Dublin hostel, banned from internet access, awaiting verdicts about his extradition to Scotland and the US.[14][15]
In February 2015, Busby was extradited to Scotland.[16] In October of that year, however, a Glasgow court ruled that he was medically unfit to be tried over multiple bomb threats.[17] In 2017, the Sheriff Court of Lothian and Borders in Edinburgh ruled that Busby, by then 69, was too ill to be sent to the US, as his multiple sclerosis was at an advanced stage.[16]
References
edit- ^ "Scottish separatist group leader Adam Busby to be extradited". BBC News. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ a b c d Carrell, Severin (23 July 2010). "Scottish separatist Adam Busby jailed for Heathrow bomb hoaxes". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d e "Who are the 'tartan terrorists'?". BBC News. 2 March 2002. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Man sentenced over hoax threats". The Irish Times. 23 July 2010. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ Leslie, David (2006). "Chapter Five - Adam Busby - The SNLA Ideologue". Inside a Terrorist Group: The Story of the SNLA. OCLC 71807509.
- ^ Lavery, Charles (11 July 1999). "WE'LL POISON YOUR WATER! Police Seize Scots Terror Boss Over Deadly Plot". Sunday Mail.
- ^ Hancock, Louise (12 July 1999). "POLICE GRILL TERROR PLOT TERROR SCOT Water Blackmail Plan Is Foiled". The Mirror.
- ^ Wilson, Jamie; Norton-Taylor, Richard (12 July 1999). "Man held over poison plot". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ Bushe, Andrew (16 February 2011) [July 1999]. "Man held in bizarre plot to poison British water". Irish Echo. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ MacAskill, Mark; Allardyce, Jason (10 September 2006). "SNLA threat to poison water supply". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 11 March 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
- ^ "Brown threat accused leaves prison". Belfast Telegraph. 1 April 2014. ISSN 0307-5664. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ "Ireland Man Charged In Pitt Bomb Threat Case". CBS Pittsburgh. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2024 – via CBS News.
- ^ Gurman, Sadie; Fuoco, Michael A.; Schackner, Bill (15 August 2012). "Man from Ireland charged in Pitt bomb threat case". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ "U. of Pitt. bomb threat suspect freed from jail in Ireland". CBS News. Pittsburgh. 1 April 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ Lord, Rich (1 April 2014). "Accused emailer of bomb threats to Pitt released from jail in Ireland". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ a b Fuoco, Michael A. (8 November 2017). "Scottish man charged in 2012 Pitt bomb threats avoids extradition". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on 2 August 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.
- ^ Carrell, Severin (15 October 2015). "Scottish separatist leader not fit to stand trial on terror charges". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 November 2024.