Military

Soldier arrested for plotting to ambush his unit with the help of neo-Nazis

On June 10, FBI Special Agents arrested an American Soldier who was plotting to ambush his own unit and inflict numerous casualties.

Private Ethan P. Melzer was preparing his attack for at least one year with the help of a neo-Nazi group called the Order of the Nine Angles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The Department of Justice has categorized the Order of the Nine Angles as a violent extremist group with neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and Satanic beliefs. Surprisingly, the group has been using prominent figures from the Islamist Jihad, to include the former leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks Osama bin Laden.

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On June 10, FBI Special Agents arrested an American Soldier who was plotting to ambush his own unit and inflict numerous casualties.

Private Ethan P. Melzer was preparing his attack for at least one year with the help of a neo-Nazi group called the Order of the Nine Angles, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

The Department of Justice has categorized the Order of the Nine Angles as a violent extremist group with neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic, and Satanic beliefs. Surprisingly, the group has been using prominent figures from the Islamist Jihad, to include the former leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks Osama bin Laden.

Melzer, who was about to deploy to Turkey, has been charged with a slew of indictments to include conspiring and attempting to murder U.S. nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country.

Melzer himself admitted that he is a traitor against the U.S. and that he was plotting to kill and maim as many of his fellow troops as possible.

Although the Department of Defense (DoD) hasn’t released the specific unit in which Meltzer was assigned to, he was a paratrooper with the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which is based in Vicenza, Italy.

“As alleged, Ethan Melzer, a private in the U.S. Army, was the enemy within.  Melzer allegedly attempted to orchestrate a murderous ambush on his own unit by unlawfully revealing its location, strength, and armaments to a neo-Nazi, anarchist, white supremacist group,” said in a press statement the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Audrey Strauss.

This is the latest case of radicalization among the troops in recent months. In February, another Soldier was arrested for plotting to overthrow the U.S. government and making homemade bombs. And then, earlier in June, an Air Force sergeant set up a delicate ambush, which included an improvised explosive device (IED), in California against law enforcement officers. In the ambush, Sergeant Steven Carrillo, an Airman assigned to the 60th Security Forces Squadron out of Travis Air Force Base, killed one deputy. Carrillo, furthermore, is suspected of shooting and killing a federal officer a few days prior to the ambush during a protest for the death of George Floyd in Oakland, California. The Department of Homeland Security has categorized both events as acts of domestic terrorism.

About Stavros Atlamazoglou View All Posts

Managing Editor. Greek Army veteran (National service with 575th Marines Battalion and Army HQ). Johns Hopkins University. You will usually find him on the top of a mountain admiring the view and wondering how he got there. You can reach him at Stavros@sofrep.com.

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