News Analysis |
The FBI has accused a Missouri man linked to the “Alt-Right” and the violent “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, VA of attempting a terrorist attack in October 2017. He is one of many right wing western individuals caught by western law enforcement indulging in acts of terrorism.
Taylor Michael Wilson, 26, has been charged with attacking an Amtrak train headed to St. Louis, MO and its employees in Nebraska. Recently unsealed FBI documents reveal that Wilson was linked to white supremacist groups.
Since National Action was banned just over a year ago there have been more than a dozen arrests. A small number of prosecutions relating to the group will soon come to trial.
In October 2017, a train conductor noticed the train braking unexpectedly, and later found Wilson “playing with the controls.” The conductor and others then detained Wilson, and law enforcement later found Wilson had a concealed handgun, “speed loaders, a box of ammunition, a knife, tin snips, scissors and a ventilation mask” inside his backpack.
Wilson, who joined a neo-Nazi group in 2017, had expressed an interest in “killing black people,” and had numerous PDF and video files on his phone of white supremacist banners displayed over a highway, alt-right documents and guides on killing people. Upon his arrest, Wilson had a business card from the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group. It’s believed he traveled with the group to the “Unite the Right” rally in August, during which neo-Nazi violence left dozens injured and a counter protester dead.
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Upon searching his home, FBI agents found “a hidden compartment with a handmade shield, as well as: “a tactical vest, 11 AR-15 (rifle) ammunition magazines with approximately 190 rounds of .223 ammunition, one drum-style ammunition magazine for a rifle, firearms tactical accessories (lights), 100 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, approximately 840 rounds of 5.45×39 rifle ammunition, white supremacy documents and paperwork, several additional handgun and rifle magazines, gunpowder, ammunition-reloading supplies, and a pressure plate.”
Approximately a fifth of the 400 terrorism-related arrests in the year to the end of last September were categorised by the police as “domestic” extremism, which includes suspected far-right activity.
Wilson is also believed to be responsible for an April 2016 rage incident during which the man pointed a gun at a black woman unprovoked while driving on the I-70. In addition to terrorist charges, Wilson had been charged with “felony criminal mischief and use of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony,” though he posted bail in December.
Meanwhile in the UK, six people have been arrested on suspicion of being members of the banned far-right group National Action.
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Five men from Cambridge, Banbury, Wolverhampton, Leicester and Stockport, and a woman from Banbury were detained by police earlier. All six are being held at a police station in the West Midlands. Police said the suspects, aged between 21 and 37, were detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act as part of a planned operation.
They were arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism, namely on suspicion of being a member of a proscribed organisation, National Action. West Midlands Police said the arrests were intelligence-led and carried out in conjunction with a number of other counter-terrorism units across England.
Since it was banned, detectives have been carrying out more and more investigations into the group which, to all intents and purposes, has organised itself in a similar way to the banned al Muhajiroun network – the extremist Islamist youth movement
“There was no threat to public safety,” a force spokesperson said. A number of properties are also being searched as part of the operation. National Action became the first British neo-Nazi group to be banned after Home Secretary Amber Rudd said it was promoting violence and acts of terrorism.
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Members and supporters applauded the murder of Jo Cox MP by a white supremacist – and the group had carried out a series of small, but confrontational, demonstrations in towns and cities throughout England. One of its most notorious events saw masked members – many of them very young men – gathering outside York Minster to make Hitler salutes.
Meanwhile in the UK, six people have been arrested on suspicion of being members of the banned far-right group National Action.
Since it was banned, detectives have been carrying out more and more investigations into the group which, to all intents and purposes, has organised itself in a similar way to the banned al Muhajiroun network – the extremist Islamist youth movement. Both have used social media to target young people, attracting them with a simplistic us-vs-them message designed to make them angry.
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Approximately a fifth of the 400 terrorism-related arrests in the year to the end of last September were categorised by the police as “domestic” extremism, which includes suspected far-right activity. Since National Action was banned just over a year ago there have been more than a dozen arrests. A small number of prosecutions relating to the group will soon come to trial.