SALT LAKE CITY - A man was arrested after calling 911 more than one hundred times claiming to be a terrorist and threatening police.
Police say that Mohamud Ismail started calling 911 during the graveyard shift on Wednesday night. He called around 100 times, not stopping until mid-morning on Thursday.
Det. Veronica Montoya says that most importantly, those calls can create a serious problem for the public.
"911 is open for emergencies, this was not an emergency," she said.
The nuisance evolved into an alleged criminal matter when Ismail began threatening police, saying, among other things, that he is "the second Osama bin Laden."
Detectives worked to track down Ismael, which took some extra time because he was using a cell phone and they weren't able to get a fixed address, but they eventually found and arrested him in his Salt Lake City apartment.
Ismail has had multiple run-ins with the police on various offenses and neighbors say they're not surprised by the arrest.
Steve Willis lives across the hall from Ismail. He says the two don't know each other well, but their brief interactions were not pleasant.
"The one run in I had with him, he asked me for a cigarette and I didn't have one so he told me to F-off! It's just that kind of attitude he had," Willis said.
Ismail remains jailed on felony and misdemeanor charges.
