Bomb hoaxes lead to indictment of Chatham County man

A Chatham County man has been indicted for making bomb hoaxes targeting a Savannah mosque and an office park.

Mohammed Arafat Afaneh, 27, of Savannah, was indicted by a U.S. District Court Grand Jury on two counts of False Information and Hoaxes, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. Afaneh was located and arrested on state charges in Louisville, Kentucky, and remanded to the custody of U.S. Marshals after an initial appearance hearing in federal court in the Western District of Kentucky.

The indictment alleges that on Nov. 17, Afaneh conveyed information that a bomb that would detonate at 3 p.m. at an office park on Chatham Parkway in Savannah, near the federal court building, and that a bomb would detonate seven minutes before Maghrib, or afternoon prayers, inside the Islamic Center of Savannah.

Responding law enforcement agencies determined both warnings were hoaxes.

Indictments contain only charges. Afaneh is considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case is being investigated by the FBI, and prosecuted for the United States by Assistant U.S. Attorney Darron J. Hubbard.