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Ghanaian pleads guilty to making bomb threat at U.S university

Abdul F. Ismail entered the plea in Eastern Hampshire Court, admitting to his role in the April 11 incident.

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A Ghanaian who was arrested in April after informing his partner that he was a terrorist and would blow up her University of Massachusetts dormitory pleaded guilty on Monday to a single charge of threatening to commit a crime.

The judge, Thomas Estes placed his conviction "on file" for the next 12 months.

This implies that no sentence will be imposed if he stays out of trouble over that time.

But shortly after the end of the court proceedings, Ismail was taken into custody by United State Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mary Carey, communications director for Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan said.

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Ismail has been in the United States since 2013, after having arrived from Ghana to seek asylum.

According to his lawyer, before his arrest, Ismail was due to have an immigration hearing about being granted permanent resident status next March.

But the 27-year-old was arrested after a woman that he had been dating reported him to the police. The two had begun the romantic relationship after meeting through the online dating application Tender.

So what went wrong?

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According to the woman, who is a UMass student, Ismail came to her dorm room in Butterfield Hall and asked her to print out a document on the recent bombings in Syria.

She said that when she told him that she was not comfortable doing what he asked for, he reportedly said "I'm a terrorist" and that he planned to blow up the dorm.

The woman, who was troubled by the comment, decided to end the date at that point.

She said that she subsequently escorted Ismail from the building, and right after called the police.

She also refused to stay in her dorm room as she was still shocked by the comment from Ismail.

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The university was, therefore, forced to find new accommodation her.

Meanwhile, Ismail’s lawyer, Alan Rubin, told the court that his client was only joking, adding that there was no evidence that he intended to carry out the crime.

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