US Christian militia group accused of plotting to kill police officers

Wheatland Township: A ninth alleged member of a Christian militia group that prepared to battle the Antichrist and the US government was arrested after the FBI played recorded messages from family and friends, who urged the man to give himself up, over loudspeakers outside a home in rural Michigan.

Joshua Matthew Stone peacefully surrendered to heavily armed authorities Monday night. His father and seven others believed to be part of the Michigan-based Hutaree appeared in court earlier on charges they plotted to kill a police officer and slaughter scores more by bombing the funeral all in hopes of touching off an uprising against the government.

Most of the arrests came during weekend raids in the states of Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. FBI agents moved quickly against Hutaree because members planned an attack sometime in April, prosecutors said. Authorities seized guns but would not say whether they found explosives.

The arrests dealt "a severe blow to a dangerous organisation that today stands accused of conspiring to levy war against the United States", Attorney-General Eric Holder said.

In an indictment, prosecutors said the group began military-style training in the Michigan woods in 2008, learning how to shoot guns and make and set off bombs.

Ringleaders

David Brian Stone, 44, of Clayton, Michigan, and one of his sons were identified as ringleaders. Stone, known as "Captain Hutaree", organised the group in paramilitary fashion, prosecutors said.

"It started out as a Christian thing," Stone's former wife, Donna Stone said.

"You go to church. You pray. You take care of your family. I think David started to take it a little too far."

Donna Stone said her former husband pulled her son, David Brian Stone Jr, into the movement.

The arrest of another of the senior Stone's sons on Monday night happened 48km from the site of the Michigan raid, at a home where he was found with five other adults and a child.

"We're guessing he's been in there at least a day," Andrew Arena, head of the FBI's field office in Detroit, said after Joshua Stone surrendered.

Arena noted the pleas from Stone's family and friends.

"They worked with us. They recorded some messages for us," he said.

Prosecutors said David Stone had identified certain law enforcement officers near his home as potential Hutaree targets. He and other members discussed setting off bombs at a police funeral, using a fake 911 call to lure an officer to his death, killing an officer after a traffic stop, or attacking the family of an officer, according to the indictment.

After such attacks, the group allegedly planned to retreat to "rally points" protected by trip-wired explosives for a violent standoff with the law.

"It is believed by the Hutaree that this engagement would then serve as a catalyst for a more widespread uprising against the government," the indictment said.