Seattle (Washington), June 12: A US student has been arrested for allegedly plotting to blow up a coast guard station and an Army National Guard armory in the state of Washington, court documents revealed yesterday. Self-described anarchist Paul Revak, 20, told an undercover FBI agent he admired al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and inquired about obtaining military-grade C-4 explosives and hand grenades, the documents showed.
The history student was planning to blow up defense installations sites and industrial and oil sites around Bellingham, the northwestern port city near the Canadian border, according to a probable cause statement filed in US district court in Seattle.
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested the western Washington University student as he emerged from a store in Bellingham with a newly-purchased pellet gun made to look like a semi-automatic pistol.
The agents then searched Revak's college dormitory, where they found a gym bag under his bed containing camouflage face paint, two camouflage hats, two pairs of black gloves, a black ski mask, a walkie-talkie and bolt cutters.
Although the investigation is continuing, it appears Revak was acting alone and not with a terrorist organization, the charging papers said.
The arrest came after the FBI put Revak -- who faces up to life in prison if found guilty of the charges -- under surveillance for nearly three weeks following a tip from a fellow student.
The informant said Revak had attempted to recruit him, and had gone to the authorities after failing to talk Revak out of his plans. Bureau Report