Monday, March 29, 2010

FBI: Mich. Militia Plotted To Kill Police

(AP) Eight suspects arrested by the FBI this weekend were part of a plot by members of a Christian militia group to kill police officers, according to federal authorities.

According to a federal indictment unsealed this morning in Detroit, members of the Midwest group called the Hutaree had planned multiple attacks on police officers or other law enforcement personnel as a way of acting out their hatred for the government.

Weekend raids by the FBI in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana stopped the plot, authorities said, before any attacks could be carried out.

A federal grand jury has charged six Michigan residents, along with two residents of Ohio and one from Indiana, with seditious conspiracy, attempted use of weapons of mass destruction, teaching the use of explosive materials, and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

The five count indictment charges that between August 2008 and the present, a Lenawee County, Mich. militia group called the Hutaree was preparing to engage members of local, state, and federal law enforcement in armed conflict.

Indictment
DOJ Press Release (3.29.10)

The Hutaree allegedly planned to kill a law enforcement official in Michigan and then launch an attack against other officers gathered for the funeral procession, using Improvised Explosive Devices.

IEDs with Explosively Formed Projectiles, according to the indictment, constitute weapons of mass destruction...