MOSQUE BOMB PLOT: White supremacists arrested for 'planning to murder hundreds of Muslims'
POLICE have arrested three white supremacists for allegedly plotting to blow up a mosque in a bid to kill hundreds of Muslims.
Curtis Allen, 49, Gavin Wright, 49 and Patrick Eugene Stein, 47, were arrested for planning to obliterate a block of flats, one of which had been converted into a mosque, where 120 Muslim immigrants live.
The suspects were members of anti-government, anti-Muslim and anti-immigration militia groups and wrote their own manifesto, which they planned to publish after the bombing.
They had been stockpiling guns and explosives and carrying out surveillance of the flats, in Kansas, while they were being monitored by the FBI for eight months.
Each suspect has been charged with one count of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Many Kansans may find it startling, as I have, that such things could happen here
Tom Beall, acting attorney for the District of Kansas, said: "Many Kansans may find it startling, as I have, that such things could happen here."
The twisted plot came to light after FBI officials began investigating several militia groups based in southwestern Kansas as part of a domestic terrorism probe.
An undercover FBI officer was sent to attend meetings of militia group Crusaders, which were attended by the alleged bomb plotters.
The trio had discussed plans to target pro-Somali churches and public officials, with the defendants choosing the block of flats as a prime target due to its Somali immigrant population.
They had been planning to place vehicles containing explosives at the four corners of the complex.
Mr Beall said the investigation took authorities “deep into a hidden culture of hatred and violence”, according to US news channel KSHB-TV.
The suspects referred to Muslims as "cockroaches" during the Crusaders meetings, FBI officials said.
If the defendants are convicted, they could face life in prison.