Story highlights Robert Curtis Doyle and Ronald Beasley Chaney III are arrested in FBI undercover operation

Doyle and Chaney are accused of trying to buy weapons and explosives from undercover agent

A third man, Charles Daniel Halderman, is accused of trying to help in a plot to rob and kill a jewelry dealer

(CNN) Two Virginia men have been arrested on accusations of being white supremacists plotting to bomb black churches and synagogues as part of a race and hate war, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Robert Curtis Doyle and Ronald Beasley Chaney III were arrested Sunday as part of an undercover FBI operation in which an agent posed as an illegal arms dealer selling weapons and explosives to the two Virginia men, the FBI said in documents filed in federal court in Virginia.

Doyle and Chaney wanted to rob businessmen, such as a jeweler and a gun store owner, to prepare for a so-called race war, according to a law enforcement official.

The men wanted to use the proceeds to stockpile weapons and begin paramilitary training, the official said. They allegedly planned on bombing or shooting members of black churches and Jewish synagogues, but the official said: "They were a long way from actually pulling off an attack."

A third man, Charles Daniel Halderman, was also arrested on accusations that he was going to help Doyle and Chaney in robbing and killing a silver-jewelry dealer as part of their extremist beliefs, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.

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