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MUSKOGEE, Okla.—A Texas man tried to sell a 25-gallon drum of cyanide to an FBI informant, saying the deadly chemical could be used to kill a large number of people, according to a court affidavit.

Jeffrey Don Detrixhe, 38, of Higgins, Texas, was arrested Monday on a complaint of possession or transfer of a chemical weapon, and was scheduled for an initial court appearance Wednesday. The arrest was first reported by the McCurtain Daily Gazette.

According to an affidavit filed by FBI Special Agent John Whitworth, agents taped conversations in which Detrixhe told an informant that he had a 25-gallon drum of cyanide and was willing to sell it in exchange for $10,000, a thermal imager and a fully automatic Russian-made AK-47 assault rifle.

Detrixhe allegedly told the informant he could turn the white, cyanide briquettes into gas by using hydrochloric acid, according to the affidavit.

“I could kill a city with that ... Euthanize a whole village,” Detrixhe said in the taped conversation, according to the affidavit. Mark White of the FBI’s Dallas office said U.S. attorneys would likely seek Detrixhe’s indictment in the next 30 days. White said some cyanide was recovered when a search warrant was executed at Detrixhe’s home, but he would not say how much.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes cyanide as a “rapidly acting, potentially deadly chemical” that prevents the body from processing oxygen.

The chemical can be used in manufacturing, metallurgy and pest extermination.

“The question is going to be how did they get it because sodium cyanide is used in various things,” White said.

McCurtain County Sheriff Johnny Tadlock said sheriff’s deputies helped in arresting Detrixhe on Monday afternoon in the Holly Creek area north of Idabel, where Detrixhe was attending a funeral.