 "FBI seizes largest cache of homemade explosives in its history from a man's house in Virginia")
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested a man in Virginia and said that it had found the largest cache of “finished explosive devices” ever found in the bureau’s history. The man named Brad Spafford was taken into custody at a farm outside Norfolk on December 17.
The man was arrested on the basis of a single-count criminal complaint accusing him of illegally possessing an unregistered short-barrel rifle. When the investigators searched his 20-acre property they found a detached garage with more than 150 explosive devices. Most of these pipe bombs were labelled “lethal” and the property was located in Isle of Wight County.
The prosecutors noted that more pipe bombs were found inside his bedroom in a loosely stuffed backpack. The bag bore a patch shaped like a hand grenade and a logo reading “#NoLivesMatter." The slogan is usually spread across the far-right section of Telegram. Apart from the hashtag, there was no other evidence that Spafford adhered to such beliefs.
What does the ‘No Lives Matter’ mean?
According to the threat assessment released by the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness, the “No Lives Matter” movement promoted “targeted attacks, mass killings and criminal activity” and has “historically encouraged members to engage in self-harm and animal abuse."
In the filed court papers, prosecutors in the Federal District Court in Norfolk maintained that Spafford must be kept in custody as the case moves towards a trial. According to court papers, the prosecutors started investigating Spafford last year. The authorities started scrutinising Spafford after a neighbour reached out to the authorities.
Spafford lost three fingers on his right hand while working with a homemade explosive device. The neighbour told authorities that Spafford was stockpiling weapons and homemade ammunition. The neighbour mentioned that Spafford told him that he and his friends were “preparing for something” that he “would not be able to do alone,” the court papers said.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe neighbours also claimed that Spafford sometimes used photographs of US President Joe Biden for conducting target practice at a local shooting range. He used to believe that “political assassinations should be brought back," The New York Times reported.
The court papers mentioned that after the attempted assassination of US President-elect Donald J. Trump in July, Spafford told his neighbour that he “hoped the shooter doesn’t miss Kamala,” an apparent reference to Vice President Kamala Harris. The authorities noted that the suspect moved to his farm this fall and the neighbours went to visit him there in October.
The neighbours were wearing a secret recording device in which they recorded Spafford saying that he had various types of explosives at the property and discussed fortifying it with “a 360-degree turret” in which he planned to mount a 50-calibre rifle, according to the papers.
With inputs from agencies.
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