Crusaders: Domestic terrorists in Kansas charged with plotting attack on Muslims.

Federal investigators have stopped a domestic terrorism plot to bomb a Kansas apartment complex that is home to mostly Somali Muslims and is also used as a mosque.

The plot to kill Muslims was planned by a small group of Christian extremists known as “The Crusaders.”

According to reports three southwestern Kansas men have been arrested and charged in federal court with domestic terrorism charges: Curtis Allen, 49; Gavin Wright, 49; and Patrick Stein, 47, were arrested Friday morning.

The three are charged with one count of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.

Acting U.S. Attorney Tom Beall told reporters at a news conference in downtown Wichita earlier today the men are members of a small militia group called “The Crusaders.”

The Associated Press reports that the men are also associated with a militia group calling itself the Kansas Security Force.

On suspect Curtis Allen’s Facebook page multiple anti-Muslim posts can be found, including posts promoting violence against and killing of Muslim people. In addition, Allen posts Christian based hatred against LGBT people, including an image from Deuteronomy and the following text:

Deuteronomy chapter 22 verse 5. Read your bible everyone. The whole transgender issue is an abomination in the eyes of God

According to an FBI agent’s affidavit the three Christian extremists espoused “sovereign citizen, anti-government, anti-Muslim, and anti-immigrant beliefs.”

According to reports the three conspired to set off a bomb where about 120 people, including many Somalis, live. The apartment complex in Garden City is also used as a mosque, officials said.

U.S. Attorney Tom Beall told reporters:

We’re here today to announce three Southwest Kansas men, Curtis Allen, Patrick Stein and Gavin Wright, were charged in federal court here today on domestic terrorism charges. The government alleges the defendants conspired to detonate a bomb at an apartment complex in Garden City, where Muslim immigrants from Somalia live and worship… These charges are based on eight months of investigation by the FBI, and is alleged to have taken investigators deep into a hidden culture of hatred and violence. Many Kansans may find this startling, as I have, that such things could happen here.

According to reports the defendants conducted surveillance to size up potential targets; stockpiled firearms and ammunition, and explosive components; and even prepared a manifesto describing their beliefs to be published after the bombing.

If convicted, the defendants face up to life in federal prison.