WICHITA, Kansas — After an 8-month investigation into a militant group known as the Kansas Security Force, FBI agents arrested three men accused of setting up an intricate plan to bomb an apartment complex and kill countless Muslim Somali immigrants, according to authorities.
The men had been conducting surveillance on the southwestern Kansas apartment complex to size up potential targets, stockpiled firearms, ammunition and explosives components and prepared a manifesto to be published after the bombing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The suspects planned the attack to “wake people up,” court documents said.
The complexity and depth of the plan were shocking, U.S. Attorney Tom Beall said.
“These charges are based on eight months of investigation by the FBI that is alleged to have taken the investigators deep into a hidden culture of hatred and violence,” he said. “Many Kansans may find it as startling as I do that such things could happen here.”
Curtis Allen, 49, Gavin Wright, 49, and Patrick Eugene Stein, 47, were members of the Crusaders, a sub-group of the Kansas Security Force, officials said.
After considering different targets, the trio decided to bomb an apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas, where numerous Somali immigrants live and maintain an apartment used as a mosque, the FBI said.
A confidential source infiltrated meetings of the militia group and provided investigators with information about the group’s activities.
If convicted, the men could face life in prison.
Cox Media Group
