Man accused of planting pipe bombs before Jan. 6 Capitol attack is charged with explosives offenses

By ERIC TUCKER and ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

Summary:

– Arrest ends nearly five-year search tied to Jan. 6 investigation.

– Credit purchases, phone data and plate reader helped ID suspect.

– FBI says both devices were capable of killing before being disabled.

WASHINGTON — The FBI on Thursday arrested a man accused of placing two pipe bombs outside the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national parties in Washington on the eve of the U.S. Capitol attack, an abrupt breakthrough in an investigation that for years flummoxed law enforcement and spawned conspiracy theories about Jan. 6, 2021.

The arrest marks the first time investigators have publicly identified a suspect in an act that has been an enduring mystery for nearly five years in the shadow of the violent Capi