US millionaire builds secret tunnels over N Korea fear

A US millionaire is to appear in court on Friday charged in the murder of a man recruited to build tunnels at his home near the US capital for protection against North Korea, reports say. Daniel Beckwitt, a conspiracy theorist and millionaire stock trader, has posted a US$100,000 (S$133, 840) bond and will be released from detention on Monday morning, WRC-TV said. Beckwitt, 27, is charged with second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death in September 2017 of Askia Khafra, 21. Khafra died when a fire broke out in the basement as he dug a tunnel under the home where Beckwitt lived in Bethesda, Maryland, a Washington suburb. Beckwitt is “an unusual individual,” his lawyer Robert Bonsib told court on Thursday when a grand jury indicted the millionaire, The Washington Post reported. Beckwitt, set to appear in court on June 8, sought to “create a secure bunker because of his concern about international tensions, North Korea, intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Bonsib said. The tunnels reportedly began at the base of a 20-foot (three meter) shaft below the basement and branched out about 200 feet.