Acting on a tip about explosives at a house in Lake Helen, Fla., police discovered jars of highly volatile triacetone triperoxide, or TATP — the same material used in terrorist bombing attacks mounted by ISIS and al-Qaida. Jared E. Coburn, 37, was arrested after officers were told he had a bomb under his bed.
“The white crystal powder [TATP] has been referred to as ‘Mother of Satan’ by terrorist organizations who have used it in deadly attacks around the world,” the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
The TATP was found in Coburn’s room, which he had been renting from a relative, authorities said. Police went there intending to look for a bomb, but the officer who entered the house reported seeing what resembled a makeshift lab, with jugs of powder and bottles of peroxide, alcohol and other liquids scattered around the room. Two vials of crystalline powder sat on the desk, according to law enforcement, and underneath it sat a “large amount of tannerite” — an explosive that contains ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder.
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