US ‘white extremist’ trio arrested for anti-govt plot

WASHINGTON: Three alleged members of a US white supremacist group have been arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the American government and conspiracy to murder two anti-fascist activists.

Police said the trio were members of The Base, which US prosecutors have described as an international network of white nationalists who discuss "committing acts of violence against minority communities."

"The group was involved in recruiting new members online, meeting to discuss strategy and practicing in paramilitary training camps on a 100-acre (40-hectare) tract in Silver Creek" north west of Atlanta, Floyd County police said in a statement Friday. The men, aged from 19 to 25 and based in the US state of Georgia, sought to "accelerate the downfall of the United States government, incite a race war and establish a white ethno-state," according to a police affidavit.

They had also surveilled a home in nearby Bartow County with the intent of shooting dead an activist couple who lived there, the report said. On Thursday, the FBI arrested three members of The Base in Maryland for possessing an illegal automatic weapon.