Two men have been arrested and accused of planting a bomb under a media vehicle in Salt Lake City, the FBI said Sunday.
Investigators believe Adeeb Nasir, 58, and Adil Justice Ahmed Nasir, 31, planted the “incendiary device” under a vehicle belonging to local Fox affiliate KSTU. The station confirmed its vehicle had been targeted.
Cops found the bomb on Friday and determined it “had been lit but failed to function as designed,” local CBS affiliate KUTV reported. The vehicle had been parked near an occupied building, police said.
FBI agents and local cops raided a home in the west suburb of Magna on Saturday and arrested the Nasirs, according to local ABC affiliate KTVX. Officers also found “explosives and explosive-related components” in the home, authorities said.
During the raid, the Nasirs claimed to have two “weapons of mass destruction,” leading to evacuations of the nearby residences, local NBC affiliate KSL reported. The weapons turned out to be hoaxes, and no agents or officers were harmed.
The Nasirs were arrested on a long list of explosives and weapons charges, along with two counts each of threat of terrorism. Their relationship has not been announced by law enforcement.
The Salt Lake City area has been closely watched and a hotbed of news media following the Sept. 10 shooting of Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University, just south of the city in Orem.
