Soldier in neo-Nazi trial ‘stockpiled machetes’
ABRITISH Army soldier accused of membership of a banned neo-Nazi group stockpiled daggers and machetes while planning to create all-white “strongholds” ahead of a race war, a court has heard.
A jury was told that what appeared to be a crude version of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) device was found at the home of Lance Corporal Mikko Vehvilainen, who was “personally committed” to violence on behalf of National Action.
Vehvilainen, 33, is standing trial at Birmingham Crown Court along with Private Mark Barrett, 25, and a 23-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Continuing his opening of the case against the defendants, who all deny being members of National Action, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson QC claimed Vehvilainen wrote a list of “security kit” in a notebook.
Describing a raid by anti-terror police on Vehvilainen’s Army accommodation at Sennybridge Camp, Powys, on September 5 last year, Mr Atkinson told the court: “At the time he was arrested a crudely-made device which resembled a homemade EMP device was found.
Several lists and diary entries from early 2016 were also discovered, the court heard, making reference to weapons “that needed to be achieved”.
Mr Atkinson told jurors: “In a notebook recovered from the defendant’s address, he had drafted a document headed “Extinction”.
“From its content it appears to be the first edition of a magazine in which he referred to the ‘extinction’ being the ‘genocide being forced upon whites.’”
Part of the notebook entry allegedly read: “Be prepared to fight and die for your race in a possible last stand for our survival.”
Mr Atkinson added: “The lists – and indeed the substantial quantity of weaponry recovered from his address – reveal and speak to his intention to stockpile weapons and other equipment in preparation for the ‘race war’ that he spoke of.”
The Crown alleges that Vehvilainen was an active recruiter for National Action, having introduced Barrett, who was based at Kendrew Army Barracks in Rutland, to the organisation.
Vehvilainen was arrested at about 7am after answering his door, confirming his identity and telling his wife: “I’m being arrested for being a patriot.”
Machetes, various daggers, knuckle-dusters, a crossbow, arrows, circuit boards and a hammer were found at the property, along with several Nazi flags, the jury was told, while CDs of music related to the Third Reich were found in a car.
Meanwhile, a search of another address linked to Vehvilainen led to the recovery of swastika-emblazoned bunting.
Mr Atkinson told the jury panel: “Not only were lists of weapons found, but there were stockpiles of weaponry which were recovered at the address. Those, the prosecution suggest, were Vehvilainen putting into effect his repeated call, quite literally a call to arms on the part of those who, like him, wanted to create a white-only society.”
Barrett, who served alongside Vehvilainen in the Royal Anglian Regiment, was detained at an army base in Cyprus, also on September 5.
After Barrett was brought back to the UK, his personal effects were found to include two National Action cards – one labelled “White Jihad” – and a homemade cardboard swastika was found in his accommodation area.
The trial continues.