Police Find Pipe Bombs, Arrest 2 Marines : Crime: Irvine officers investigate smoke at apartment, discover 4 devices along with fireworks, fuses, switches, wires and chemicals.

IRVINE — Police have arrested two Marines from Camp Pendleton after finding four pipe bombs in an apartment the men share near UC Irvine.

“We don’t know why they had this material, or how they got it, or where it came from,” Irvine Police Lt. Vic Thies said. “Those are things we hope to find out in our continued joint investigation of this with the Orange County (Sheriff’s Department’s) Bomb Squad.”

Police found the bombs after assisting Monday night with an emergency call to the Marines’ home in the 200 block of Berkeley Avenue. One of the suspects had been working on a smoke bomb that ignited, causing “a large cloud of smoke in the apartment,” officers said.

Thies said there was no fire, and no injuries were reported.

While investigating the cause of the smoke, officers found the four pipe bombs, plus a cache of “illegal fireworks, fuses, switches, wires and chemicals,” police said.

Police said they arrested Dennis Lance Ikerd and Randy Jon Mason, both 22 and stationed at Camp Pendleton, Thies said.

Ikerd and Mason were held at Orange County Jail on suspicion of possessing materials for making destructive devices--a felony under California law. Mason was also held on suspicion of possessing destructive devices, possessing dangerous fireworks and possessing fireworks without a permit.

Thies said police have no information that ties the two men to bomb scares or similar activities.