The FBI has announced the seizure of the biggest stockpile of explosives in its history, which were found in a farmer’s garage alongside an extremist icon on a backpack.
Agents found more than 150 homemade bombs while searching the Virginia home of 36-year-old Brad Spafford after being tipped off by a neighbour that he was hoarding weapons and ammunition.
Authorities said six of the bombs were found in a backpack that had a patch labelled “#nolivesmatter”.
No Lives Matter appears to be a satirical reference to the Black Lives Matter movement, the political campaign that gained international attention after the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
According to US Homeland Security, No Lives Matter adherents believe in conducting targeted attacks and mass killings to spread terror to all those who the group deems “mundane”.
A court document filed on Monday said Mr Spafford, who works at a machine shop, had used pictures of US president Joe Biden for shooting target practice and expressed support for political assassinations.
Some explosives assessed as pipe bombs were found in a backpack in a bedroom on the property, which Mr Spafford shares with his wife and two young children, the document said.
It added that Mr Spafford’s freezer contained a jar of HMTD – a “highly unstable” explosive – stored alongside food and labelled “Do Not Touch.”
His home also had a notebook of “recipes” for making explosives including grenades, according to the filing.
A neighbour told FBI agents that Mr Spafford had discussed fortifying his property with a 360-degree turret for a 50-calibre firearm on the roof.
The informant told authorities Mr Spafford had disfigured his hand in 2021 while working on homemade explosives, and prosecutors said he has only two fingers on his right hand.
They said Mr Spafford, who has been charged with unlawful possession of a rifle, would likely face additional charges over the explosives, which each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years of imprisonment.
In a separate filing on Tuesday, Mr Spafford’s attorneys defended him as “a hard-working family man with no criminal record” while arguing for him to be released from custody.
“There is not a shred of evidence in the record that Mr Spafford ever threatened anyone and the contention that someone might be in danger because of their political views and comments is nonsensical,” the defence lawyers wrote.
At a hearing on Tuesday, federal magistrate Judge Lawrence Leonard determined that Mr Spafford could be released into house arrest at his mother’s home but agreed to keep him detained while the government files further arguments.
In response, prosecutors reiterated why they believe Mr Spafford is dangerous, writing that “while he is not known to have engaged in any apparent violence, he has certainly expressed interest in the same, through his manufacture of pipe bombs marked ‘lethal’, his possession of riot gear and a vest loaded with pipe bombs, his support for political assassinations and use of the pictures of the president for target practice”.
