Three men were sentenced to prison for plotting to attack an energy facility as part of their white supremacist ideology, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland. The men, who met on a neo-Nazi forum called the “Iron March,” researched and discussed former power grid attacks and prepared to carry out their own. They were given sentences ranging from 21 months to 10 years for conspiracy and firearms offenses.
The men, including former Marines, manufactured firearms, stole military equipment, and gathered information on explosives and toxins for the attack. They wanted to use homemade explosives to destroy transformers and undermine democracy through violence. The men were affiliated with the terroristic neo-Nazi group Atomwaffen and expressed white supremacist beliefs in propaganda videos.
The sentencing of these men follows other energy attacks across the U.S., including incidents in Maryland, North Carolina, Oregon, and Washington state. The Department of Homeland Security has warned of domestic extremists planning to physically attack energy infrastructure for civil unrest since at least 2020, posing a threat to American lives.
In a separate case, the FBI arrested a New Jersey man for planning a white supremacist attack on an energy facility. Andrew Takhistov allegedly instructed an undercover officer to use Molotov cocktails to destroy the facility while he fought in Ukraine with the Russian Volunteer Corps. Takhistov’s arrest highlights the ongoing efforts by law enforcement to thwart attacks on critical infrastructure by white supremacist extremists.
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