Officers Pull Over Van With Obscured Plate and Find an Armory

Early on Wednesday morning, a sergeant and three police officers patrolling the East Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens spotted a black Ford Explorer with an obscured license plate.

When they pulled the driver over at about 1:30 a.m., they found a cache of weapons inside: a 9-millimeter Glock, 179 rounds of ammunition, four high-capacity magazines, two axes, four knives, a stun gun, an expandable baton and a black whip, officials said.

Along with the weapons, the police also found a New York Police Department vest, handcuffs, a bright-orange Metropolitan Transportation Authority vest and a grinning Guy Fawkes mask that resembled the one worn by the protagonist in the dystopian 2006 movie, “V for Vendetta.”

Behind the wheel was a 27-year-old man the police identified as Judd Sanson. On Thursday, he was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on charges including firearm possession, 10 counts of criminal possession of weapons in the fourth degree and the unlawful use of a police uniform or emblem.

At a news conference on Thursday, Melinda Katz, the Queens district attorney, said investigators would examine Mr. Sanson’s social media accounts and any computers he owned to find out whether he had planned to commit a violent crime.

“We are going to actually find out what his intent is,” she said.

Etched into the expandable baton were the words “Left me no choice,” “I am sorry” and the Arabic phrase for “God, forgive me,” prosecutors said in court Thursday.