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His name is Alberto R H, and he is well known on the social media networks as 'AlbertoHRom' or 'HRom' networks, where he began his career as an influencer almost a decade ago. As a student of industrial engineering, he posted innocuous popular science videos on physics and chemistry. However - according to Spain's Guardia Civil police force - now, through a second channel parallel to the educational one, he has become the Spanish YouTuber with the most followers in a very specific field: making homemade explosives and, in addition, teaching in tutorials how to make all kinds of handmade devices.
The numbers speak for themselves: with more than 1.3 million subscribers on his platforms, his 60 videos explaining how to handle and mix explosives already have 106 million views. His advice, say investigators, could have been useful to criminal gangs and even potential terrorists, who were taught not only how to convert precursors into explosives, but also how to make homemade weapons such as a flamethrower.
The intelligence services of the Guardia Civil arrested the individual in the Cantabrian town of Castro Urdiales, during the so-called Operation Sputnik, and have dismantled the "clandestine workshop" of this well-known YouTuber . The officers said that the arrested man made "explosive and incendiary mixtures" such as chlorotite, gunpowder or thermite. The special central unit (UCE) have charged Alberto R H of crimes of "illegal manufacture of explosives, of risk caused by explosives and other agents, of risk of fire in a forest area and, finally, of disobedience to an officer of authority".
According to the Guardia Civil, the investigation began when specialists in arms and explosives trafficking of the anti-terrorist services detected the "illicit content" that was being published on YouTube. The tutorials of the now arrested man were being consumed on a massive scale. In fact, these recordings, according to the UCE, had been used by another individual arrested in Pontevedra in 2022, in the so-called Operation Boxes, and who was sentenced to a year and a half in prison.
AlbertoHRom recorded tutorials on making explosives on a farm owned by his family located "in a place close to a residential area, an industrial estate and a forest area". "There was a real danger of accidental explosion and the consequent risk to his own life, that of his family and neighbours, material damage and fire," the Guardia Civil said.
In one of his most recent videos, this risk of his experiments ending in tragedy almost became reality. The arrested man, in one of his most viral recordings, made more than 30 kilos of incendiary mixture called thermite. This is an extremely dangerous compound, which can reach temperatures of over 2,500 degrees, so it is capable of melting any type of metal. For this reason, it is used legally for welding and joining railway lines, and illegally for, among other activities, the opening of safes and vaults.
With this enormous quantity of termite, AlbertoHRom destroyed a vehicle on his farm "in the vicinity of a forest area of high ecological value, with the obvious risk of fire that this entailed". The arrested man also denied access to the fire brigade that came to extinguish the fire, which led to a parallel investigation by the Cantabrian branch of the Guardia Civil's Seprona environment and nature protection wing.
In another of his videos, he explained how to make homemade napalm and a flamethrower with which to use it, demonstrating the effectiveness and range of the device.
Officers carried out two searches of the detainee's property, in which they found more than 20 kilos of chemical substances for the illegal manufacture of explosives, as well as various computer equipment for study. Given the dangerous nature of the chemicals seized, the Guardia Civil's explosive ordnance disposal team (Tedax) took charge of them for analysis and destruction.
The YouTube channel where the influencer explained how to make explosives has been cancelled (but not the main educational channel), but some of his most viral videos, such as the one of the destruction of a vehicle with thermite, are still available on other platforms.
So far this year, the Guardia Civil information service has carried out six operations against the illegal manufacture of explosives based on precursors in Spain.
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