 Bell was arrested in 1997 and charged in connection with a series of pipe bomb explosions in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island and Halifax, Nova Scotia dating from 1988–1996.During this time, a series of communications to media and law enforcement officials claimed that the bombings were undertaken by a group calling itself "Loki 7".Bell was convicted in 1997 on charges of exploding four pipe bombs over a period of eight years and was given a nine-year sentence which he served at the Springhill Institution in Nova Scotia.