Five men who plotted to blow up bridge
By Jeremy Oh
Five
men tried to blow up a bridge about 15 miles south of Cleveland, the
FBI said. Douglas L. Wright, joined Brandon L. Baxter and Anthony Hayne
in a plot that authorities say honed in on the Brecksville Northfield
High Level Bridge that spans the Cuyahoga Valley National Park and
carries a four-lane highway. They were arrested on Monday evening in an
FBI sting, but posed no real danger to the public because the explosives
were inert and were controlled by an undercover FBI agent, the bureau
said in a statement. The men have been charged with conspiracy and
attempted use of explosive materials to damage physical property
affecting interstate commerce. Connor C. Stevens and Joshua S. Stafford,
were also arrested. Their charges are pending."Clearly this was a sting operation," said Fran Townsend, a CNN National Security contributor, describing the use of at least one covert agent in the operation. The men allegedly conspired to acquire C-4 explosives and build two improvised explosive devices to be remotely detonated. At first, the men had considered using smoke grenades to distract local law enforcement in an effort to "topple financial institution signs atop high rise buildings." Officials said. Court documents say three of the suspects are self-proclaimed anarchists who formed a small group and considered a series of plots over several months.
The Five Men Who Tried To Blow up Bridge |
"The safety of the citizens of the Northern District of Ohio is and continues to be our primary focus," Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland Division of the FBI, said in a statement Tuesday.
"The individuals charged in this plot were intent on using violence to express their ideological views. The Joint Terrorism Task Force will continue to be vigilant in its efforts to detect and disrupt any terrorism threat, domestic or international," Anthony said. It is unknown if the bridge incident was connected to Occupy Wall Street's plans for nationwide protests Tuesday.
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http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/01/justice/ohio-bridge-arrests/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/05/01/5-arrested-for-allegedly-trying-to-blow-up-ohio-bridge/
Jeremy, way to go with sanitizing a topic that is clearly very major. Next time, try to really down-play the event with even more discussion of how the sting operation was in control the whole time.
ReplyDeleteMs. Clements