Stranger Than Fiction
Men Built X-ray Gun to Shoot Israel Opponents – FBI
Industrial mechanic and engineer were caught in sting after tip-off from Ku Klux Klan, investigators say as duo are charged
By Associated Press in New York
The FBI has charged two men with making a portable X-ray weapon that they intended to use to secretly sicken opponents of Israel.
Men Built X-ray Gun to Shoot Israel Opponents – FBI
Industrial mechanic and engineer were caught in sting after tip-off from Ku Klux Klan, investigators say as duo are charged
By Associated Press in New York
The FBI has charged two men with making a portable X-ray weapon that they intended to use to secretly sicken opponents of Israel.
An
indictment charges 49-year-old Glendon Scott Crawford and
54-year-old Eric J Feight with conspiracy to provide support
to terrorists with the weapon.
Investigators have said Crawford approached Jewish
organisations in 2012 looking for funding and people to help
him with technology that could be used to surreptitiously
deliver damaging and even lethal doses of radiation against
those he considered enemies of Israel. He and Feight
assembled the mobile device, which was to be controlled
remotely, but it was inoperable and nobody was hurt,
authorities said.
"Crawford has specifically identified Muslims and several
other individuals/groups as targets," investigator Geoffrey
Kent said in a court affidavit. According to the indictment
Crawford also travelled to North Carolina in October to
solicit money for the weapon from a ranking member of the Ku
Klux Klan, who informed the FBI. Crawford claimed to be a
member.
The
men appeared separately on Wednesday in federal court and
were ordered detained until detention hearings Thursday.
They could face up to 15 years in prison.
The
damaging effects of the radiation would have appeared only
days later, authorities said. The investigation by the FBI
in Albany and police agencies began in April 2012 after
authorities received information that Crawford had
approached the Jewish organisations.
Crawford, an industrial mechanic for General Electric, met
Feight, an outside GE contractor with mechanical and
engineering skills, through work, authorities said. Feight
designed, built and tested the remote control, which they
planned to use to operate an industrial X-ray system mounted
on a truck.
According to the indictment, the investigators had a
confidential undercover source in place within weeks after
learning of Crawford's attempts to solicit money and later
an undercover investigator introduced by the source. They
recorded meetings and conversations, and in December
investigators got court authorisation to tap Crawford's
phones, the indictment said.
In
June 2012 the undercover investigator brought Crawford X-ray
tubes to examine for possible use in the weapon, followed by
their technical specifications a month later. At a November
meeting with undercover investigators, Crawford brought
Feight. Both said they were committed to building the device
and named the group "the guild", the indictment said.
Investigators gave Feight $1,000 to build the control device
and showed the men pictures of industrial X-ray machines
they said they could obtain.
They
planned to provide him access to an actual X-ray system to
assembly with the remote control. According to court
documents, the sealed indictment was filed the same day and
both men were arrested.
A GE
spokesman, Shaun Wiggins, said the company was informed on
Tuesday of Crawford's arrest and he was suspended from his
job. The company had no information that any employees'
safety was compromised or that alleged illegal acts were
committed at his workplace.
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