The owner of a cache of weapons and pipebombs on Remsen Street has been identified as Ivaylo Ivanov, an ex-con with a long criminal past, the NY Post reports. He's also raised the NYPD's interest as a suspect in the synagogue hate spree last year. Ivanov shared the apartment at 58 Remsen with Dr. Michael C. Clatts, a noted AIDS researcher. No word on if Clatts, who is currently in Vietnam, knew of Ivaylo's stash of weapons:
NY Post: Arsenal in Brooklyn:When cops searched his fourth-floor apartment, they found six pipe bombs, sniper rifles, a handgun, shotguns, a crossbow with arrows, silencers, bomb-making equipment and other weapons – prompting an immediate evacuation of the building and others on the historic, tree-lined block.
Ivanov was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and falsely reporting an incident.
He was questioned by the joint FBI-NYPD terrorism task force.
"That would be standard for this type of situation," said NYPD Assistant Chief Michael Collins.
…Local residents said he would spin colorful tales about his past, including that he is of Russian and Bulgarian descent, a former army sniper who served in Bosnia.
He has been on the NYPD's radar at least since September, when he became a suspect in a slew of hate crimes in the area that included swastikas painted on synagogues and cars.
After his arrest, he told cops he was working for Israel's Mossad spy agency, the sources said.
