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Man Charged With Possessing Bomb Materials in Brea

Saleh Ali was arrested Tuesday when a Brea police officer pulled him over for an expired vehicle registration

A 47-year-old man suspected of having bomb-making materials in his car during a traffic stop in Brea this week was charged Thursday with four felonies.

Saleh Ali was arrested Tuesday when a Brea police officer pulled him over at about 9 p.m. for having an expired registration on his vehicle, Brea Police Lt. Adam Hawley said.

"During the traffic stop, the officer keyed in on a couple of suspicious items in the car he believed to be an explosive device," Hawley said. "He detained the driver out of an abundance of caution, locked down a little bit of the area and called out sheriff's bomb squad deputies."

The deputies destroyed the suspected explosive devices at the scene, Hawley said.

Police also alerted the Orange County Intelligence Assessment Center, a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement, Hawley said.

There is no evidence at this time that the defendant has any ties to a terrorist organization, Hawley said.

Ali, who was being held on $200,000 bail, appeared in a Santa Ana courtroom Thursday and denied the charges, which are two counts of possession of a destructive device and single counts each of intent to unlawfully make a destructive device and sale and transportation of a destructive device, all felonies.

Ali was ordered to return to court Sept. 28 for a pretrial hearing.

He has two prior convictions in June 2003 in Passaic County, New Jersey, for aggravated assault with serious bodily injury and terrorist threats, according to court records.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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