ALEXANDRIA, La. — A Jonesville man was arrested Tuesday after allegedly carrying a pipe bomb in his motor home with eight other passengers aboard, including six children.

Merthyr Reeves Mount, 32, of Jonesville, was arrested on charges of manufacture and possession of an explosive device, child endangerment and several traffic charges, Rapides Parish Sheriff’s Office Lt. William Brister said.

Rapides Parish deputies responded to a call at about 6:45 Tuesday evening when a motorist on Louisiana 28 reported an erratically operated motor home, Brister said.

Deputies stopped the motor home, and with Mount’s permission began to search for narcotics, which they allegedly found, Brister said.

When deputies reportedly opened a closet with several firearms, they found a box they believed to contain narcotics, but they discovered a homemade explosive device along with gunpowder and a fuse in a sack on top of the box, Brister said.

Deputies took the device and safely destroyed it in a nearby field, Brister said.

Mount reportedly told officers he had used similar explosive devices in the past to blow up beaver dams, Brister said.

“There are people with commercial licenses to that kind of thing,” Brister said. “They don’t use homemade devices.”

An investigation is currently underway, and Mount will likely face more charges, Brister said.