FBI: 5 arrested in plot to blow up Ohio bridge

Five self-described anarchists have been arrested in a plot to blow up a bridge in Cleveland, Ohio, but the public was never in any danger, the FBI said Tuesday. The anarchists spent months planning several different attacks but did not realize that they were being closely monitored and had purchased inoperable explosives from an undercover FBI agent. "The individuals charged in this plot were intent on using violence to express their ideological views," Stephen Anthony, special agent in charge of the Cleveland division of the FBI, said in a statement. "The Joint Terrorism Task Force will continue to be vigilant in its efforts to detect and disrupt any terrorism threat, domestic or international." The FBI began to infiltrate the group at a protest in October after a confidential informant sent there noticed they were complaining that the rest of the people did not want to "act violently," the criminal complaint stated. The five men accused of conspiring to bomb a bridge near Cleveland to protest corporate America and the U.S. government faced a court hearing Tuesday, federal officials said. usatoday.com Self-proclaimed anarchists Douglas Wright, 26, Brandon Baxter, 20 and Anthony Hayne, 35, developed the plot over several months before targeting a bridge over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park on Monday night, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Cleveland. usatoday.com The other two, Connor Stephens, 20, and Joshua Stafford, 23, have not yet been charged. BBC In the many conversations recorded by the informant, the men allegedly insisted that they weren't terrorists and didn't want to hurt anybody, debated how to download the Anarchist Cookbook without being traced online, and declared they would be sent to Guantanamo Bay if they got caught. theaustralian.com Some of the other plots discussed were: targeting the headquarters of a neo-Nazi or Ku Klux Clan group; attacking a hospital or bank with stink bombs, explosives or paint guns; sinking a cargo ship; derailing a train; and action at the G8 summit in Chicago or the Republican convention in Florida. theaustralian.com An official from the U.S. Department of Justice said that the plot was not connected to the first anniversary of Osama Bin Laden's death. BBC