Wash. Student Arrested in Bombing Plot
A student from a college in western Washington state has been charged with plotting to bomb Coast Guard, Army National Guard and oil facilities, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Paul Revak, 20, a student at Western Washington University, was charged with threatening to use weapons of mass destruction and solicitation to commit a crime of violence, said Andrew Hamilton, an assistant U.S. attorney.
Revak, who appeared in federal court in Seattle on Wednesday, allegedly asked an undercover FBI agent for help in obtaining C-4 plastic explosive and hand grenades.
Revak, who faces up to life in prison if he is found guilty, was turned in by another student at Western Washington University in Bellingham, about 60 miles north of Seattle.
In a manifesto that Revak showed to other students, he allegedly wrote: “You need not worry about Osama or Saddam or the boogeyman, but if you are part of this empire, you should fear us. Our will is strong, our message is just and we will prevail.”
U.S. authorities have been on high alert for any threats of violence since the terrorist attacks in New York and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
Revak was allegedly scouting facilities in the Bellingham area, including an oil refinery on the coast and nearby security facilities as potential targets, prosecutors said.
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