WASHINGTON — Four Georgia men arrested this week in connection with a scheme to conduct an attack with explosives and a deadly toxin were partly inspired by an online novel, according to court documents.
Their plans, experts said, may not have ever escaped the realm of fantasy, but officials indicated that the suspects’ intentions — targeting U.S. government buildings and officials with firearms, explosives and the highly lethal extract of the castor bean known as ricin — were deadly serious.
The men contemplated targeting Atlanta and other U.S. cities, including Washington, perhaps by dispersing ricin from interstate highways, the court documents said.
The four men, who ranged in age from 65 to 73, appeared Wednesday in a Georgia courtroom, where they said they needed more time to prepare for a bail hearing, according to local news reports.
One suspect allegedly raised the possibility of modeling the group’s attack on “Absolved,” an online novel written by a former Alabama militiaman that centers on the fallout from a botched federal raid.
The Washington Post
