Man held over mail-bomb scare in US
TRUMP: WE MUST NEVER ALLOW POLITICAL VIOLENCE TO TAKE ROOT IN AMERICA
AFlorida man has been arrested and charged in connection with mailing at least 14 suspected explosive devices that targeted high-profile Democrats including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and cable network CNN, officials said yesterday.
FBI agents used DNA and a fingerprint to identify the suspect. Sayoc has been charged with five federal crimes including threats against former presidents and faces up to 58 years in prison if found guilty, US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions said.
FBI agents arrested Sayoc, 56, in Plantation, Florida and also hauled away a white van plastered with pro-Trump stickers, the slogan “CNN SUCKS” and images of Democratic figures with red crosshairs over their faces.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said there could be other packages. Announcing the arrest to a cheering audience at the White House,
Trump said such “terrorising acts” were despicable and had no place in the US. “We must never allow political violence to take root in America — cannot let it happen,” Trump said.
Altieri Sayoc, the Florida man arrested and charged in connection with mailing at least 13 suspected explosive devices to high-profile Democrats including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and CNN, has a record of arrests and criminal convictions, including a 2002 arrest for making a bomb threat.
Sayoc filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012, citing $21,000 in debts and saying he lived with his mother. He registered to vote as a Republican in March 2016.
“I am pleased to inform you that law enforcement has apprehended the suspect and taken him into custody,” US President Donald Trump said in comments at the White House. He said “these terrorising acts are despicable” and vowed prosecution to “the fullest extent of the law”.
According to a federal charging document, Sayoc’s fingerprints were found on one of the packages mailed to Democratic Representative Maxine Waters.
He has been charged with five criminal counts, including assaulting federal officers and illegally mailing explosives “with the knowledge and intent that it would be used to kill, injure, and intimidate individuals, and unlawfully to damage and destroy buildings, vehicles, and other real and personal property”.
He was arrested near an AutoZone store in Plantation, Florida, and was being questioned by FBI agents, according to the Miami Herald. Television images from the scene showed a white van being loaded onto a flatbed truck by law enforcement officers. The van was covered in pro-Trump and rightwing stickers.
‘Not hoax devices’
“These are not hoax devices,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a news conference at the Justice Department, adding that the devices were made with explosive materials even if they may not have been primed to go off.
The Justice Department said 13 packages containing the devices have been intercepted by authorities so far. The intended recipients have all been targets of conservative vitriol, with the most recent packages discovered addressed to New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper. The first device was found Monday after being delivered to the home of billionaire financier and Democratic contributor George Soros.
Asked about the suspect’s motives, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said “he appears to be a partisan” but “I don’t know why” he targeted Democrats.
Gary Barksdale, deputy chief inspector for the US Postal Inspection Service, said postal employees will continue to monitor for any devices not yet found.