WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in the U.S. state of Ohio arrested two residents suspected to have been plotting attacks on a Jewish synagogue and a pipeline in two unrelated cases, U.S. media reported Monday.
Ohio authorities said that 21-year-old Damon Joseph planned to kill worshipers at a synagogue in Toledo with an assault rifle, and Elizabeth Lecron, 23, allegedly purchased explosive materials used for blowing up a pipeline in the southern state of Georgia, CNN reported.
According to Justin Herdman, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, Federal Investigation Agency (FBI) agents spent about a month to investigate the separate cases, tracking the suspects' social media posts ranging from pictures of weapons and propaganda slogans.
"It's not just one threat. It's across the spectrum," Herdman said in an interview with CNN on Monday. "It's not just Islamic or anarchist or animal rights terrorism. It's everything."
By disguising themselves as members of the Islamic State group online, the FBI agents obtained a list provided by Joseph, which included firearms he needed to carry out an attack similar to the one in a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in October, in which 11 people died.
On his list were an assault rifle, a semi-automatic pistol, at least two magazines and ammunition, court records showed.
Through online communications with Lecron, undercover agents discovered that she had pro-Nazi inclinations and intended to bomb a pipeline in Georgia.
Lecron told the agents she bought "black powder" to make the bomb, as well as hundreds of screws, which, as shrapnel, would maximize the devastation of the attack.
"The longer these people are in place on the street, the greater the risk is that they're going to kill somebody," Herdman said. "It was just the right time to take them down."
