Homeland Security inspectors show Golden Triangle businesses how to spot suspicious purchases for homemade bombs

Throughout the week, members of the Department of Homeland Security have been visiting businesses in Lowndes, Oktibbeha and Noxubee counties to spread awareness about improvised explosive devices.

Operation Flashpoint is a joint effort between DHS’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to help businesses spot suspicious purchases that could end up as homemade bombs.

“If a person came in and bought…drain cleaner, a galvanized piece of pipe or some caps, and some other items like nails, sometimes that’s a telltale sign of making a bomb,” says East Mississippi Lumber Company General Manager Toby Steed