USA-SOUTH CAROLINA/KLAN
Members of the Ku Klux Klan fly Confederate flags during a rally at the statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina, 18 July 2015. Reuters/Chris Keane

A self-professed member of the Ku Klux Klan in New York was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Monday (19 December) for a plot to kill Muslims with a radiation machine that he described as being made from "off the shelf" technology.

Glendon Scott Crawford is the first person to be found guilty of attempting to acquire and use a radiological dispersal device. He was found guilty in August 2015 after unwittingly bragging about his plan to undercover FBI officers, according to the Washington Post.

More from IBTimes UK

A 14-month undercover investigation was started after Crawford approached Jewish groups for funding for his project. They then tipped off the authorities. Crawford had said he wanted the device to kill "enemies of Israel".

Crawford's plan was to build the device, which he was attempting to design and test, and then place it inside a vehicle which could be parked outside a Muslim institution and activated remotely.

According to court records, he referred to Muslims as "medical waste" and asked:"How much sweeter could there be than a big stack of smelly bodies?" He also expressed an intention to target President Barack Obama.

A US District Court Senior Judge called Crawford, a 52-year-old industrial mechanic from Galway, New York, "bizarre". "The conduct is bizarre. You are bizarre," said Judge Gary Sharpe as Crawford was sentenced.

Crawford had also tried to find help for his plan. He tried to enlist a leader of the Ku Klux Klan who was already co-operating with the FBI, and also Eric Feight who pleaded guilty in December 2015 to providing material support to a terrorist.