DC Metro Bomb Threat: Man Arrested

December 14, 2010 Updated: October 1, 2015

DC METRO BOMB THREAT: Commuters get on and off a Metro train at the Gallery Pl - Chinatown Station Oct. 27 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
DC METRO BOMB THREAT: Commuters get on and off a Metro train at the Gallery Pl - Chinatown Station Oct. 27 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
A man who allegedly made Facebook posts in which he threatened to use pipe bombs to kill people using the D.C. Metro subway system, Awais Younis, was ordered by a federal judge to get a mental health evaluation, on Monday, according to the Washington Post.

Younis was arrested last week after allegedly posting the threats to Facebook including threatening to kill people in Georgetown, a Washington neighborhood. According to CNN, he is in his mid-twenties and posed on Facebook holding an AK-47.

Younis was charged with communicating threats across state lines. He made the threatening posts to a friend, who then warned the FBI. Younis later threatened the friend, the Huffington Post reported.

According to CNN, Younis is being held in the Detention Center of Alexandria, Va. He will have a hearing on Dec. 21. In his postings, he described how to make the bombs and recommended placing them on certain subway cars. Yet, no explosives were found at his home. He was born in Afghanistan and also uses the name Sundullah “Sunny” Ghilzai.

Farooque Ahmed, 34, of Ashburn, Va., was arrested in October and charged with plotting to bomb the D.C. Metro system. He was born in Pakistan. Unlike Younis, he was accused of more than verbal threats.  According to the Department of Justice, he actually tried to plan attacks, though his co-conspirators were undercover FBI agents.

David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, said in a Department of Justice statement, "Farooque Ahmed is accused of plotting with individuals he believed were terrorists to bomb our transit system, but a coordinated law enforcement and intelligence effort was able to thwart his plans."

Both men were not believed to pose a genuine threat.