Police in Altoona, Pennsylvania may have averted a tragedy this weekend. A student at Penn State's branch in Altoona is in jail after police found bomb-making materials, as well as a completed bomb, in his apartment.
Penn State Altoona student Vladislav Miftakhov, 18, was arrested Friday after Altoona police found homemade bombs and bomb-making materials in his room while investigating a possible marijuana growing operation, according to a criminal complaint.
Police also found marijuana plants but called backup when they discovered fuses attached to aluminum and plastic containers.
After officers removed Miftakhov from a class and attained a search warrant, investigators discovered one pound each of atomized magnesium and Chinese potassium perchlorate and a package labeled potassium nitrate powder — which are all “key components in the bomb making process,” the criminal complaint said.
Miftakhov is a native of Moscow who lives with his parents in San Carlos, California (halfway between San Francisco and San Jose) during the summer. He was charged with
10 counts, including unlawful possession of a weapon of mass destruction, risking catastrophe, reckless endangerment and possession of drug paraphernalia. He admitted buying the stuff on Amazon, and said that he just wanted to "blow things up." He'd already made one bomb, but was afraid to detonate it. Police safely destroyed the bomb.
One of Miftakhov's roomies told the Altoona Mirror that Miftakhov had a fascination with bombs.
One of Miftakhov's apartment mates, Andrew Leff of Bucks County, contradicted Miftakov's statement that he hadn't detonated anything in Pennsylvania, saying that during the current semester, Miftakhov had set off three "mini-bombs" just outside their apartment, creating small craters in the ground.
Recently, Miftakhov had showed Leff a bomb made by mixing chemicals in an aerosol whipped cream container, Leff said.
"I said, 'Dude, you've got to get rid of that,'" Leff said Saturday afternoon in the snow outside the apartment.
Miftakhov later told Leff he'd done as suggested.
"[But] apparently he didn't," Leff said.
Miftakhov was a "crazy kid" who did "impulsive things," Leff said.
"He was off the wall," Leff said. "It's not surprising to me at all [to learn about the arrest]."
"Off the wall" sounds like an understatement, considering how this could have ended. For instance, according to WTAJ-TV in Altoona,
at least one of his packages went to the wrong house.
Miftakhov is in the Blair County jail on $500,000 bail. He's due for a court appearance on February 2, but it's hard to believe he'll be out of jail any time soon.