Man charged in plot to bomb Alaska oil pipeline had explosives

by The Associated Press

Equipment for 14 pipe bombs was found in the vehicle of a man charged with plotting to blow up the trans-Alaska pipeline on New Year’s Eve 1999, an explosives expert has testified in a Vancouver, British Columbia court.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Tim Kain testified Sept. 25 he found 14 sections of PVC pipe 18 inches long and six inches in diameter, 14 metal discs weighing more than four pounds each and 14 Casio timers in the vehicle of Alfred Reumayr of New Westminster.

Police also obtained 185 grams of the high explosive PETN when Reumayr was arrested in August 1999. He has been in custody pending extradition proceedings ever since.

Kain said the material he found could be used to make a pipe bomb called a flying plate or platter charge, but under cross-examination he conceded the explosives that were recovered might have been inadequate to do any damage with four-pound discs.

Authorities in the United States say Reumayr, 52, planned to buy oil stock, bomb the oil pipeline at the height of Y2K fears and then sell the stock at a huge profit. He has been charged with eight offenses that carry a total maximum penalty of more than 100 years in prison.