FERGUSON Mo. (Reuters) - Two men suspected of buying explosives they
planned to detonate during protests in Ferguson, Missouri, once a grand
jury decides the Michael Brown case, were arrested on Friday and charged
with federal firearms offenses, a law enforcement official told
Reuters.
Word
of the arrests, reported by a number of media outlets Friday, came ahead
of the grand jury's widely anticipated decision on whether the white police officer who fatally shot Brown, an unarmed black teenager, should be indicted on criminal charges
.
The Aug. 9 slaying of 18-year-old Brown under disputed
circumstances became a flashpoint for U.S. racial tensions, triggering
weeks of sometimes violent protests in the St. Louis suburb by
demonstrators calling for Wilson's arrest.
He was instead placed on administrative leave, and
Ferguson has been bracing for a new wave of protests, especially if the
grand jury chooses not to indict Wilson. An announcement was believed to
be imminent.
Against this backdrop of heightened tensions, according to a law
enforcement source, two men described as reputed members of a militant
group called the New Black Panther Party, were arrested in the St. Louis
area in an FBI sting operation.
As initially reported by CBS News, the men were suspected
of acquiring explosives for pipe bombs that they planned to set off
during protests in Ferguson, according to the official, who spoke to
Reuters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to
publicly discuss the case.
The official said the two men are the same pair named in a
newly unsealed federal indictment returned on Nov. 19 charging Brandon
Orlando Baldwin and Olajuwon Davis with purchasing two pistols from a
firearms dealer under false pretenses.
Both men were arraigned on Friday in federal court, the law enforcement source said.
The FBI and other federal agencies were reported to have
stepped up their presence in the St. Louis area in recent days in
anticipation of renewed protests after the grand jury's decision in the
Brown case is made known.
An FBI official in St. Louis declined to comment except to
say that the two men named in the indictment had been arrested.
Officials from the U.S. Attorney's Office for eastern Missouri were not
immediately available for comment.