Man Made Bombs for Gang’s Use, Police Allege

A 19-year-old gang member arrested this week on suspicion of manufacturing and possessing explosive devices was believed to be making the bombs for a Glendale-based gang, and for possible use against a rival gang, authorities said Wednesday.

Arash Forouzanfar was arrested Tuesday in Glendale after an extensive investigation, said Glendale Police Sgt. Don Meredith.

Detectives in Glendale and Los Angeles received information five months ago that a Glendale gang was attempting to add bombs to their arsenal, authorities said.

Police said there were two bombings in vacant lots in Glendale in January and August and they are believed to be the work of Forouzanfar, or members of his gang. No one was injured in those blasts, which occurred in isolated areas.

“We believe they were tests,” Meredith said. “Our investigators believe any intended targets would have been that of a rival gang.”

Forouzanfar was described by police as being of Iranian descent, but was a member of a primarily Latino street gang active in Glendale and Northeast Los Angeles. Officers declined to name the gang or to speculate who the targets of any future bombings would have been.

Police on Tuesday searched four locations frequented by Forouzanfar. In a house in the 1000 block of Harvard Road in Burbank, bomb squad officers found two complete explosive devices, chemicals and materials that could have made “several other bombs,” Meredith said.

Los Angeles Police Lt. Herb Seitz said the devices were “absolutely dangerous. We are not talking about Molotov cocktails.”

Investigators believe Tuesday’s arrest dealt a fatal blow to plans by Forouzanfar’s gang to use bombs against rival gangs.

“As far as I know we have recovered most, or all, of these devices,” Meredith told United Press International.

Forouzanfar will be arraigned today in Glendale Municipal Court. He remained in jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Meredith said there could be more arrests in the case, but stressed that authorities believe Forouzanfar is the leader of the effort to add bombs to the gang’s arsenal. The sergeant said Forouzanfar’s gang was the only one suspected of manufacturing explosives.