Neo-Nazis With Bomb Parts in Alabama, Maine
Neo-Nazis with bomb parts in Maine, Alabama
A Belfast, Maine, neo-Nazi who was shot to death by his wife last December possessed a cache of radioactive and other dangerous materials suitable for building a "dirty bomb," according to an unclassified FBI intelligence report. A dirty bomb uses conventional explosives to disperse radioactive and other harmful materials over a large area.
During a search of the house where James G. Cummings lived with his wife, Amber, investigators reportedly discovered instructions for making a dirty bomb, along with four 1-gallon containers filled with a mix of uranium and thorium, both of which are radioactive, along with highly toxic beryllium powder. The containers also held lithium metal, thermite, magnesium ribbon and other substances that are used to amplify the effects of homemade explosives.
According to the FBI report, police also found a membership application from the National Socialist Movement, the country's largest neo-Nazi group, which Cummings had filled out.
Amber Cummings reportedly told police that her husband was "very upset" over Barack Obama being elected president, had been in contact with white supremacist groups, and had been mixing chemicals in their kitchen sink while talking about dirty bombs. Authorities say she claimed that she gunned down her husband with a .45-caliber Colt Peacemaker after years of mental, physical, and sexual abuse, and termed the killing a "domestic violence homicide." Nevertheless, she was later indicted for murder.
One month after the dirty bomb components were allegedly discovered in Maine, police in Mobile, Ala., reported finding a "cache of explosives" in the residence of alleged neo-Nazi Thomas Hayward Lewis, after Lewis was arrested for spray-painting swastikas and neo-Nazi slogans on a Messianic Jewish house of worship. The slogans included "Hitler was right," "Juden raus (German for "Jews get out)," and references to Combat 18, a violent neofascist group based in the United Kingdom that promotes "lone wolf" terrorism.
At press time, Lewis was being held without bail.
