A member of the Ku Klux Klan built a remote-controlled X-ray machine in the hopes of harming or killing Muslims and President Barack Obama, a prosecutor in Albany, N.Y told a jury Tuesday.

Attorneys for the accused Glendon Scott Crawford, 51, said that he did indeed design the ray, but they also claimed that he was tricked by undercover government officials into becoming more involved with the project after he tried to abandon it. Crawford himself called the ray “Hiroshima on a light switch” in a 2012 recording.

Rodney Margolis, chief executive of the Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York, testified in court that Crawford tried to recruit Jewish leaders into a scheme that “would kill Israel’s enemies while they slept.” Margolis contacted the authorities, leading to the FBI surveying Crawford’s house. They eventually sent undercover agents to discuss Crawford’s plan with him and glean more information, according to the New York Post.

Crawford was arrested in 2013 and charged in a conspiracy to aim radiation at a mosque and a Muslim school. He allegedly also planned to attack the White House. Crawford’s co-conspirator, Eric Feight, pled guilty in 2014 to providing materials to Crawford.

[New York Post]

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Write to Eliana Dockterman at eliana.dockterman@time.com.