Utah man arrested after cops stumble upon 71 homemade bombs in his apartment
A Utah man was arrested after police discovered 71 homemade bombs and a substantial stockpile of bomb-making materials inside his Orem apartment, according to Provo Police.
Eric Whitaker, 41, was taken into custody on Friday after allegedly brandishing a weapon near the Provo Towne Centre Mall. Following his arrest, authorities secured a search warrant for his apartment.
Inside, officers uncovered bomb-making supplies and 'a large number of home-made improvised explosive anti-personnel fragmentation grenade devices,' Provo Police said in a press release.
The Metro Bomb Squad was called to the scene, prompting the evacuation of the apartment building as the devices were recovered safely.
In total, 71 homemade explosive devices were seized along with additional bomb-making materials.
Whitaker is now facing 71 counts of possession of weapons of mass destruction and one count of possessing bomb-making materials. The case has been referred to the Utah County Attorney's Office.
'We are grateful for the expert training, skills, and equipment that our Metro Bomb Squad officers provide during their response to EOD incidents, protecting our investigators as well as our community,' Provo Police said in a statement.
'We are proud of our Patrol Officers for their fast response to the initial report of suspicious activity, and their continued assistance to our Detectives during the follow-up investigation.
'We also appreciate Orem PD's Patrol Division for assisting in the evacuation measures during the search warrant.'
This case follows just a month after a would-be suicide bomber in the UK was jailed for plotting to 'kill as many nurses as possible' in a pressure cooker explosion at a hospital in Leeds.
Mohammad Farooq brought a homemade bomb— modeled after the 2013 Boston Marathon devices but packed with twice as much explosive —into St James's Hospital in January 2023.
He was talked out of carrying out the attack by patient Nathan Newby, whom Justice Cheema-Grubb described as 'an extraordinary, ordinary man whose decency and kindness...prevented an atrocity in a maternity wing of a major British hospital.'
Farooq, a clinical support worker, had targeted the hospital after failing to access the American base at RAF Menwith Hill and was found guilty after a jury deliberated for less than two hours.
Police found him with a viable bomb, knives, black tape, and a blank-firing imitation firearm.
Whitaker is now facing 71 counts of possession of weapons of mass destruction and one count of possessing bomb-making materials
An investigation revealed he had been self-radicalized online and obtained bomb-making instructions from an Al Qaeda publication.
Bethan David, head of the CPS Counter Terrorism Division, said: 'Farooq is an extremely dangerous individual who amassed a significant amount of practical and theoretical information that enabled him to produce a viable explosive device...The extremist views Farooq holds are a threat to our society, and I am pleased the jury found him guilty of his crimes.'
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