Two Bellingham women are facing charges of a terrorist attack at a Washington railroad facility, KING 5 reported.
On Saturday (November 28), police with BNSF Railway spotted two people on surveillance video kneeling on the tracks near a crossing in Bellingham. Authorities said a shunt was found on the tracks where the two people were. They were later identified as the two women and arrested the same day.
According to reporters, a shunt "disrupts the low-level electrical current on the tracks and can disable various safety features. It's comprised of magnets and wires that are stretched between the tracks and they disrupt the systems that indicate that a train is on the tracks."
Officials claim the suspects had a paper bag holding wire, a drill with a brush head and rubbery gloves. The shunt would've interfered with the railroad crossing guard at Cliffside Drive in Bellingham, police said.
“Since January, there have been 41 incidents of shunts placed on the BNSF tracks in Whatcom and Skagit counties—causing crossing guards to malfunction, interfering with automatic braking systems, and, in one case, causing the near-derailment of tanks of hazardous chemicals,” according to U.S. Attorney Brian Moran.
The charge of terrorist attack on a railroad facility is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, KING 5 wrote.
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