Fired air traffic controller arrested

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo., April 6 (UPI) -- A fired air traffic controller in Colorado was being held Thursday on suspicion of carrying out a bombing campaign directed at his former employer.

Robert Burke was arrested late Wednesday in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart near Provo, Utah, CNN reported. Police from Utah and Colorado were involved.

Burke was sacked in 2004 by Serco Group, which operates the control tower at Walker Field in Grand Junction. He allegedly planted bombs at the homes of four former co-workers. Two went off while the other three were found and disarmed by police.

In a news release, police in Grand Junction said a tip from the local newspaper, the Daily Sentinel, helped in tracking Burke to Utah.

"It is phenomenal that we were able to bring this man to justice so quickly," interim Police Chief Bill Gardner said in a news release. "We can all put our fears to rest knowing that he is not at large."

Investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms say a bomb placed on the roof of a Serco office in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Feb. 1 has similarities to the Colorado bombs.