There are possibly non-bomb reasons for going into a hardware store, buying a length of metal pipe, having it divided up into smaller pieces, and then having each of those pieces threaded for caps on both ends — but it’s definitely the sort of purchase that will probably result in the police knocking on your door.

In fact, earlier this week, police in Missouri arrested a man believed to be building pipe bombs after receiving a tip from Home Depot staff about a man who made this very suspicious purchase.

The employees, having reason to believe that these 7.5″, threaded sections of 1.25″ diameter metal pipe might be used for something other than plumbing, alerted the authorities, who then obtained a search warrant for the customer’s motel room.

That’s where they found the pipes, gunpowder, and fuse wire — stuff you’d need to really ruin someone’s day with a bang.

The suspect has multiple previous run-ins with the law and was recently barred from entering Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, which is not far from the motel where he was allegedly prepping the bombs.

Bridgeton police say man was preparing to make pipe bombs [STLtoday.com]

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