Local man nabbed in luggage blast Ammunition was in bag checked at Logan airport

Local man nabbed in luggage blast
Ammunition was in bag checked at Logan airport

Orville A. Braham

By Ira Kantor  |   Thursday, December 30, 2010  |  http://www.bostonherald.com  |  Local Coverage

The FBI is slapping a Brockton man with federal charges for allegedly transporting ammunition without proper licensing after one of his suitcases exploded at Miami International Airport Tuesday, according to an affidavit filed yesterday.

On Tuesday morning, Orville A. Braham, 37, boarded American Airlines [AMR] Flight 2585 at Logan International Airport bound for Miami with a final destination of Kingston, Jamaica, according to an FBI affidavit. Braham checked two bags and carried two bags on the plane.

A baggage handler at Miami International Airport picked up one of Braham’s suitcases and put it on the ground whereupon it exploded, according to the affidavit. The explosion caused shrapnel to embed in the handler’s shoe.

An examination of Braham’s suitcase revealed hundreds of .45 caliber ammunition primers detonated upon impact, the affidavit stated. FBI agents then searched Braham’s other suitcase and “found hundreds of ammunition primers in a plastic bag concealed in the lining of the suitcase, along with components of a disassembled ammunition reloading press.”

After being arrested, Braham denied having anything in his suitcase that would have exploded, claiming he only packed clothing. Upon further questioning, he eventually admitted he had 700 ammunition primers in the suitcase that he bought at a gun show in Holbrook in November 2009, according to the affidavit.

“He explained that he used to reload ammunition as a hobby,” the affidavit states. “He claimed that he placed the 700 ammunition primers and the reloading press in a bag and hid them in a suitcase in his basement to keep them away from his kids. He claimed that he did not remember that these items were in his suitcase when he used it to travel to Jamaica.”

FBI officials said Tuesday the incident was not tied to a terrorism threat.

The incident was not Braham’s first brush with the law: On Oct. 31, he was busted for trying to steal four flat-screen televisions from a Stoughton BJ’s, according to Stoughton cops. He was found with a .22 Beretta handgun in his waistband when he was arrested, but police and the Norfolk District Attorney’s office said he had a valid license.

Braham was charged with receiving stolen property and using a firearm in the commission of a felony, said Stoughton Police Chief Paul Shastany. Braham is due in Stoughton District Court Jan. 11 for a probable cause hearing.

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