Sep 23, 2024 08:00:00

Two administrators of the Telegram channel 'Terrorgram Collective,' which posted assassination targets and instructions to destroy substations, have been indicted

Two Americans who advocated white supremacy and had compiled a list of government officials and activists as targets for assassination have been arrested and indicted. The suspects are said to have been managing and operating channels on the chat service Telegram and plotting terrorist attacks.

Office of Public Affairs | Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting Hate Crimes, Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists | United States Department of Justice

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/leaders-transnational-terrorist-group-charged-soliciting-hate-crimes-soliciting-murder

“HAIL HOLY TERROR”: Two US citizens charged for running online “Terrorgram Collective” | Ars Technica

https://arstechnica.com/culture/2024/09/hail-holy-terror-two-us-citizens-charged-for-running-online-terrorgram-collective/

Indictment Shows How Online Groups Allegedly Encourage and Solicit Extremist Acts
https://www.asisonline.org/security-management-magazine/latest-news/today-in-security/2024/september/indictment-provides-insight-into-white-supremacist-terror/

According to the US government, the two men arrested were Dallas Humber (34) of Elk Grove, California, and Matthew Allison (37) of Boise, Idaho, and are suspected of operating a Telegram channel called 'Terrorgram Collective.'

The channel contained assassination lists of government officials and activists deemed 'enemies of white people,' homemade videos praising 'saints' who had murdered others, and instructions for destroying infrastructure such as transformers at electrical substations.The channel also contained videos with specific instructions on how to make a bomb, and was peppered with catchphrases such as 'HAIL HOLY TERROR.'

Participants reportedly promoted 'white supremacist

accelerationism ' and believed society must be incited toward civil war or apocalyptic conflict in order to overthrow existing government systems and establish a white nationalist state . Hit lists included leaders of private companies and non-governmental organizations, many of whom were targeted because of their race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation.

The government is investigating the possibility that the group may have been involved in several real-life incidents, including a 19-year-old Slovakian who allegedly killed two people at an LGBT bar in Bratislava, Slovakia in 2022, an 18-year-old American who allegedly plotted an attack on an electrical substation in New Jersey, and an 18-year-old Turkish man who stabbed five customers at a cafe in Eskisehir, Turkey.

The two suspects have been charged with 15 counts total, including conspiracy, soliciting a hate crime and distributing instructions to make a bomb. If convicted on all charges, they each face up to 220 years in prison.