Bomb allegedly left at US base by Alen Zheng was built inside 2 Pepsi bottles
Drivers pass through a security checkpoint at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, in March.
Photo: TNS The bomb placed outside a US Air Force Base visitors centre in Florida last month was built inside two 2-litre cherry Pepsi bottles, according to federal prosecutors.
Alen Zheng, 20, of Land O’Lakes, is accused of planting the bomb and lighting the fuse at the base on March 10.
He drove the explosive to MacDill Air Force Base in the boot of his Mercedes SUV, according to a document filed by prosecutors Friday.
The bomb did not detonate.
US Attorney Gregory Kehoe has said it had the “potential to be very deadly”.
The filing Friday came as part of an attempt to keep Zheng’s sister, Ann Mary, from being released as she faces charges of evidence tampering and being an accessory after the fact in her brother’s case.
Ann Mary Zheng is accused of helping Alen Zheng get rid of his car and flee to China.
An image purportedly depicting the bomb was posted on an online forum for members of the US military in March.
Image: Facebook/AFamnncosnco The revelation of the bomb’s make-up comes amid questions of how it could have sat outside the military installation for six days without being discovered.
Authorities say Alen Zheng made an emergency call after placing it, though he did not provide a specific location.
Court records do not offer additional details about the device.
But it matches the description of a photo circulated on social media in recent weeks.
The image depicting the bomb was posted March 16, the day officials found it, on Air Force amn/nco/snco, a Facebook forum for members of the Air Force and other branches of the military.
It has more than 126,000 followers.
The same image was also shared on X and Reddit.
It depicts two bottles of cherry Pepsi inside an unzipped black gym bag.
The bottle necks have been cut off and covered with duct tape.
A long wire or fuse trails out of one bottle.
A Tampa Bay Times reporter who went to the area last week was able to match the image to a spot behind the visitors centre.
There, outside a door marked “mechanical electrical” on the northwest side of the centre, the pavement bore black marks that mirrored those in the photograph.
The cement appeared to have been singed by the lit fuse.
The location is about 15 metres (yards) from the covered walkway used by a steady stream of people seeking visitor passes.
FBI and MacDill officials have declined to confirm whether the photograph shows the
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