YouTuber allegedly arrested over viral explosive tutorials and homemade flamethrower

A YouTuber based in Spain was allegedly arrested for sharing tutorials about how to make explosives and weapons illegally. However, he denied specific details about his arrest, calling the claims “unfair.”

YouTuber Alberto R. H., known to his 1.3M subscribers as ‘AlbertoHRom or ‘HRom,’ was reportedly arrested for his homemade explosive tutorials.

The 27-year-old was taken into custody by Spain’s Guardia Civil police in the Cantabrian town of Castro Urdiales. 

The YouTuber’s workshop, where he made large quantities of explosives and handmade weapons like flamethrowers, was so dangerous that the intelligence services of the Guardia Civil called the raid “Operation Sputnik.”

Alberto, an industrial engineering student, began showcasing his homemade explosive tutorials over a decade ago.

He gained millions of views for explaining how to make concoctions like thermite and gunpowder. According to police, they began investigating Alberto when specialists in arms and explosives trafficking of the anti-terrorist services discovered his “illicit content” online.

Police seize over 20 kilos of chemicals used to make explosives 

Investigators grew concerned over the YouTuber’s operation, which he set up on a farm owned by his family. “There was a real danger of accidental explosion and the consequent risk to his own life, that of his family and neighbors, material damage and fire,” said the Civil Guard.

Not only that, but authorities were worried that Alberto’s tutorials would reach gangs around the world and create a larger scale of crime.

When officials searched his property, they found over 20 kilos of chemical substances for the illegal manufacturing of high-grade explosives. They also found digital equipment where Alberto studied how to assemble the weapons of destruction.

Before his arrest, Alberto’s YouTube channel led to the imprisonment of an individual in 2022. The defendant was reportedly sentenced to a year and a half after accessing his videos.

The case against Alberto is still being finalized. However, he was charged with the acts of illegal manufacture of explosives, risk caused by explosives and other agents, risk of fire in a forest area, and disobedience to an officer of authority.

Alberto denies he taught viewers how to make explosives

“I’ve had a sh*tty week,” Alberto explained in a YouTube video on December 27. “They’re accusing me of something super deep,” he added.

As the video went on, the YouTuber admitted that authorities searched his workshop, but he claims they found he was “not a terrorist” with a destructive laboratory.

He said that the videos he’s created have also been intended to “entertain” and “educate” his viewers, claiming that he never instructed subscribers on how to illegally make explosives he used in his videos. “I think it’s very unfair,” he added.