After allegedly selling eight DIY bombs for $3,200 in a Bronx parking lot, a Bridgeport, CT man was arrested by the feds Thursday. A subsequent search of his apartment revealed a fully-functional bomb factory, where prosecutors say Nicholas Lahines, 37, manufactured dangerous explosives in the home he shared with his wife and 1-year-old child. The materials he was allegedly working with are so volatile that as a police bomb technician searched the apartment, he caused an explosion while handling a tiny amount of white powder, sustaining minor injuries.
Investigators with the federal Joint Terrorism Task Force say Lahines's apartment was strewn with bomb-making material, as well as 15 flashlights that appear to have been turned into explosives, and the same type of cardboard tube bombs Lahine allegedly sold to the a "confidential source" working with the government. "It's highly dangerous conduct," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Buckley at his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court. "This wasn't a situation where the defendant is just creating fireworks…he's manufacturing explosive devices... His apartment was a bomb factory."
Although Lahines bragged that his carboard tube bombs, which were packed with ball bearings, "could harm anyone within 15 feet," investigators believe Lahines was motivated by money, not terrorism. According to ABC 7, Lahines quit his job at as a car salesman a few months ago, and wrote on a business website, "I am extremely smart in many different area's.... I have a knack for making money, and see a dollar sign on everything... I will not be working for some else my whole life as I plan to do my own thing... I am too smart to make other people money, so why shouldn't I make my own money, on my terms?"
"He's always on the deck doing something. He's got like a little... crafts table. He tinkers," his superintendent told ABC 7. And a neighbor puts everyone at ease by saying, "He was purchasing things to sell on eBay. He was a wonderful guy! He would buy sunglasses and sneakers!" Lahines was ordered held without bail despite his lawyer's request that he be allowed to stay with his mother in Florida while awaiting trial.
