Trio arrested as gun groups lose bid to lift firearms ban

A former Canadian Armed Forces reservist and two other men who authorities say are linked to a violent white supremacist group were arrested yesterday, just days before they were believed to be headed to a pro-gun rally in Virginia’s capital.

The three men, members of The Base, were taken into custody on federal felony charges in Maryland and Delaware, the Justice Department said.

One of the men had discussed travelling to Ukraine to fight alongside ‘‘nationalists’’ and compared the white supremacist group to al-Qaeda, a prosecutor said during the defendants’ initial court hearing.

A criminal complaint charges Canadian national Patrik Jordan Mathews, 27, and Brian Mark Lemley Jr., 33, of Elkton, Maryland, with transporting a firearm and ammunition with intent to commit a felony. William Garfield Bilbrough IV, 19, of Denton, Maryland, is charged with ‘‘transporting and harbouring aliens.’’

The three men were believed to be planning to attend a pro-gun rally scheduled for Tuesday n Richmond, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Thursday declared a state of emergency and banned all types of weapons from the gun rally, citing reports that armed militia groups were planning to attend.

The Virginia Citizens Defence League and Gunowners of America filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction specifically against the ban on firearms. A judge upheld the ban, citing US Supreme Court and other court rulings that found the Second Amendment right to bear arms is not unlimited.

In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices, their military-style training camps and their desire to create a white ‘‘ethnostate,’’ according to an FBI agent’s affidavit.

Mathews and Lemley were arrested in Delaware and Bilbrough was arrested in Maryland. The men briefly appeared in court yesterday afternoon in Greenbelt, Maryland. A federal magistrate judge agreed to keep all three men jailed pending detention hearings.

Assistant US Attorney Thomas Windom showed the judge a photograph of Bilbrough participating in a military-style training camp with other members of The Base and said Bilbrough had also talked about travelling to Ukraine to fight alongside ‘‘nationalists.’’

‘‘He has personally compared The Base favourably to al-Qaeda,’’ Windom said.

As federal agents moved in to arrest Lemley and Matthews, the men smashed cellphones and tried to flush the pieces down a toilet, the prosecutor said.

Mathews was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army Reserve. Lemley was a ‘‘cavalry scout’’ in the US Army, court papers show. – AP