Jones is stopped in pickup truck towing barbecue-style grill before planned burning to mark 9/11 anniversary

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

A Florida pastor was arrested on Wednesday as he drove to a park to set fire to nearly 3,000 Qur'ans to mark the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Sheriff's deputies in Mulberry, Florida, arrested Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr, 44, on felony charges of unlawful conveyance of fuel as they travelled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qur'ans soaked in kerosene.

Jones had said he was heading to a nearby park to burn 2,998 Qur'ans – one for every victim of the 2001 attacks. Sheriff's officials said that Jones was also charged with the unlawful open-carry of a firearm and that Sapp faced a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer.

Both were being booked into the Polk County jail, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.

Mulberry's mayor, along with area elected officials, a sheriff's deputy and several Polk County residents, have talked about the need to express love and tolerance for all faiths on 11 September.

Jones is the pastor of a small evangelical Christian church who first gained attention in 2010 when he planned to burn a Qur'an on the anniversary of 9/11, although he eventually called it off.

His congregation did burn the Muslim holy book in March 2011 and last year he promoted an anti-Muslim film. All three incidents sparked violence in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The most violent protest happened after the 2011 Qur'an burning as hundreds of protesters stormed a UN compound in Mazar-i-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, killing seven foreigners, including four Nepalese guards.

Jones has repeatedly ignored pleas from the US military asking him not to stage his protests. Military officials say his actions put US and western troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere in danger.

Mulberry is a town of about 3,000 between Orlando and Tampa and has no connection to Jones's church.