Two men accused of radioactive weapon design

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES (19/JUN/2013.) - The U.S. federal authorities today accused two men from New York of conspiring to build a weapon of directed energy beams supposedly able to kill "enemies of Israel" with the same power as the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack on Hiroshima.

One of the men, who belonged to the white supremacist organization Ku Klux Klan (KKK), said he could build a weapon that would cause a "Hiroshima with a simple switch," with which all that is breathing would be dead by morning" , according to the charging document.

The weapon was able to fit in a van, could be activated remotely and deliver lethal doses of ionizing radiation to kill its targets while asleep, according to the document.

The men, identified as Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, and Eric J. FEIGHT, 54, managed to build a detonator for the bomb, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested them after an undercover operation without any individual being put in danger.

Crawford, who authorities say is the one who made ​​the comparison with Hiroshima, is a member of the KKK, and referred to Muslims as "medical waste," according to the indictment.

The plot began in April 2012 and the defendants began to build the bomb this spring. The FBI began investigating when Crawford called for funding to a synagogue and a Jewish organization to kill enemies of Israel.

Both have been charged with conspiring to provide material to support terrorists, so they are facing about 15 years in prison.

The two appeared separately today in federal court in New York, which has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.