Authorities foiled a potentially deadly bomb plot at North Carolina's Asheville Regional Airport last week.
The Citizen-Times reported 46-year-old Michael Christopher Estes was arrested in connection with the October 6 incident.
A criminal complaint filed by FBI agent James A. Anderson alleges Estes dropped off a bag full of explosives outside the airport terminal shortly before 1 a.m. on October 6. Airport officials sent a bomb-sniffing dog to inspect the device, and a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer later found that a substance in the bag tested positive for ammonium nitrate.
According to the Citizen-Times, the FBI complaint states Estes rigged an alarm clock inside the bag to strike matches and "cause the flame necessary to trigger the device."
The clock was set to go off at 6 a.m. on October 6.
"When AN/FO comes into contact with a flame or other ignition source it explodes violently," states Anderson's complaint. "Shrapnel or nails or ball bearings are often items added to the device so as to increase the devastation inflicted by the explosion."
The device, which contained nails, was similar to those used in recent terrorist attacks around the world.
Fortunately, no one was injured. However, the airport's Terminal Drive and part of a terminal were closed for about two hours as a result of the discovery.
Estes told authorities that he intended to "fight a war on U.S. soil" but denied setting the alarm clock to trigger the device. He said he staged in the woods across the street from the airport a couple of days before planting the bag. A search of the woods turned up another bag of supplies, including shotgun shells.
Estes made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday and is charged with attempted malicious use of explosive materials and unlawful possession of explosive materials in an airport.
Airport officials stumbled upon another brief scare at the airport on Thursday. According to Asheville's WLOS, a bomb squad was called to the airport Thursday morning after an airport housekeeper reported an unattended backpack in the men's bathroom near the baggage claim.
"The bag was determined to be of no consequence," airport spokeswoman Tina Kinsey told WLOS. "That's all the information we have at this time."
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Asheville Regional Airport is among the most connected regional airports in the country, operating daily flights to places like Atlanta, Charlotte and Chicago.
Last week's incident comes on the heels of several abandoned or foiled bomb plots at airports around the world.
Two men allegedly planned to sneak an improvised explosive device onto an Etihad Airways flight at Sydney Airport on July 15, the same day four Lebanese-Australian brothers were alleged to have abandoned a plan to smuggle explosives aboard another Etihad Airways flight.
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