The FBI uncovered a cache of weapons containing over 150 pipe bombs when they searched a farm near Norfolk, Virginia, owned by an alleged far-right, anti-government, American citizen, CNN reported. Investigators said that the find is potentially the largest number of intercepted “finished explosive devices” in FBI history.
The FBI had had the farm owner Brad Spafford on a watchlist for the last two years after having received a tip-off that he was stockpiling weapons and homemade ammunition on his 8-hectare (20-acre) estate around 290 kilometers (180 miles) south of Washington, DC.
According to a neighbor, Spafford had lost three fingers on his right hand in 2021 working with a homemade explosive device.
Spafford was arrested on December 19 and charged with one count of possession of an illegal, unregistered firearm. The FBI subsequently executed a search warrant on his property and found a stockpile of pipe bombs, unsafely stored in a bedroom inside a backpack labelled “#nolivesmatter”—an apparent reference to a far-right, anti-government movement, in a garage, and allegedly “preloaded into an apparent wearable vest.”
Spafford’s lawyer filed papers Tuesday asking that his client be released from pre-trial detention, denying that he is a danger to the community, and asserting that he has no criminal record and “there is no evidence or allegation that Mr. Spafford committed or attempted to commit any act of violence” in the last two years while he was under surveillance.