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5 arrested in alleged plot to blow up Cleveland-area bridge
[Updated at 12:06 p.m. ET] Five men have been arrested on suspicion of trying to use what they thought were explosives to destroy a bridge near Cleveland, Ohio, the FBI said Tuesday morning.
Some of the men on Monday planted what they thought were two remotely activated C-4-based explosive devices - which they allegedly bought from an undercover FBI employee - at the base of a Route 82 bridge that crosses from Brecksville to Sagamore Hills over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, the FBI said in a news conference Tuesday.
The devices actually were inoperable and posed no threat to the public, and the FBI arrested the men shortly after the devices were planted, authorities said.
Douglas L. Wright, 26; Brandon L. Baxter, 20; and Anthony Hayne, 35, were arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force on Monday evening on charges of conspiracy and attempted use of explosive materials to damage physical property affecting interstate commerce, the FBI said.
Also arrested were Connor C. Stevens, 20; and Joshua S. Stafford, 23. Their charges were pending.
Three of the men are self-proclaimed anarchists, the FBI said in a news release.
"The public was never in danger from explosive devices," the FBI said.
The group initially planned to "topple financial institution signs atop high rise buildings in downtown Cleveland" while co-conspirators used smoke grenades to distract law enforcement, according to the FBI. But the plot evolved into plans for using explosive to destroy bridges or other targets, and the group finally decided on the Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge, which carries Route 82 over the national park, the FBI said.
Some of the defendants, after they planted the devices, intended to detonate them from a remote location that they believed was safe and could provide them with an alibi, authorities said at Tuesday's news conference.
The FBI learned of the plots through a confidential source who met Wright at a Cleveland-area protest event in November, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. district court. Wright told the source that Wright and a group of anarchists "had been discussing plans involving violence and destruction to physical property ... to send a message to corporations and the United States government," the complaint reads.
“The complaint in this case alleges that the defendants took specific and defined actions to further a terrorist plot,” U.S. Attorney Steven M. Dettelbach said in the news release. “The defendants stand charged based not upon any words or beliefs they might espouse, but based upon their own plans and actions.”
FULL STORY
No intelligence included. Cleveland is already a wasteland. What difference would it make if a bridge was gone? These guys deserve to be put in the looney bin.
What a great looking bunch. Especially the dude on the left.
I'm not sure what these guys were trying to do....Cleveland has already been pretty much destroyed since the 1970's.
Please use contraception.
Oh great, now the Ron Paul campaign is in high gear. I guess Atlas is going to have to shrug someplace else.
High odds that these guys are affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street movement. Can't wait for this to come out...
Why not just make stuff up? Based on looks, I'd say they are obviously Sarah Palin voters.
Silly people. Anarchists are against government, and likely belong to no party. Jeez.
How can they be charged with attempting to use explosive devices when they were never in fact in possession of explosive devices?
The Cleveland Plain Dealer said they were radical leftist anarcharchists. I think that's a long winded term for OWS activists. This is type of crme should get the book thrown at them. 30 years minimum with bubba!
Don't put them anywhere near me. Put them in a prison instead. Put 'em near me and I'd cut 'em up for fish bait.
Jim, You are so right like you always have been. Hope you are doing well.
BWAH-HAHAHAHAHA!!!! What a bunch of morons!!!! Look at those faces. Just goes to show there are plenty of stupid rednecks north of the Mason-Dixon line as well. Have fun in prison, boys. I'm sure they'll give you a VERY warm welcome your first night. And your second. And your 7,000th.
looks like akida has some friends
Oh look, they're white terrorists.... huh! I suppose race or religion doesn't necc. determine who will commit an act of terror.
nope...just most of the time.
"Oh look, they're white terrorists.... huh! I suppose race or religion doesn't necc. determine who will commit an act of terror."
Second that.
Not real terrorists...manufactured from FBI
at least they will be forced to bathe now.
This goes to show that not every terrorist is a Muslim or someone of Middle eastern descent.
Thats the point of the CNN article and fake crime invented by the FBI...
Not every one; only the overwhelming majority.
Does everybody still want to stop brown people only at airports?