Members of KKK group the Loyal White Knights in 2008. (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post via Getty)

The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) has been distributing leaflets inside bags of candy in Virginia, according to local police.

Police in Chesterfield County, Virginia, told the Chesterfield Observer received five phone calls about flyers from the horrific hate group being left outside homes between March 17 and 19.

The flyers contained hateful propaganda about African Americans, Native Americans and Jewish people, under the title “Liberals – The Most Intolerant Hate Group in the World”.

They were signed by the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and placed inside plastic sandwich bags filled with candy. One resident told the local newspaper they were upset by the “awful” leaflets because “candy would lure in children”.

However, police said their hands were tied as no crime had technically been committed.

A Chesterfield County police spokesperson said: “At this point, distributing the flyers in this manner does not appear to be a crime, as the distributor did not trespass on anyone’s property and distributing the materials in this way does not violate the littering law.

“As always, we encourage residents to report suspicious activities or materials left in their neighbourhoods.”

According to the anti-hate organisation Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the Loyal White Knights “follow a version of traditional Klan ideology infused with neo-Nazi beliefs”, and are known for “their distribution of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-immigrant, homophobic and Islamophobic propaganda”.

There are 35 to 40 groups that make up “the organised Klan movement” in the United States, but the Loyal White Knights are “the largest and the most active Klan group in the country with approximately 100 members”.

They have “organised and participated in public white supremacist rallies [and] they also hold private gatherings and cross burning ceremonies”.

79 per cent of KKK propaganda distribution tracked by ADL in 2018 was attributed to the Loyal White Knights.

In 2015, the group distributed leaflets in Florida urging people to “support gay bashing” against “disgusting and inhuman” gay men.

In 2016, leaflets were sent out in Alabama declaring that trans “abominations” should be forced to urinate outside.