Maine safety officials continue probe into where militia group was headed in Maine

Purported leader of the group Jahmal Tavon Sanders Latimer (YouTube screen capture)

AUGUST, Maine - While Maine State Police say they have not learned where a Rise of the Moors militia group from Rhode Island en route to Maine for "training" was headed, publicly available documents show that the two vehicles they were traveling in we're filled with military style equipment, weapons and plenty of ammo.

Both vehicles, whose Massachusetts registrations had been revoked last year, were operating using unregistered Maine plates when the group got into an armed standoff with Massachusetts State Police on Saturday on Interstate 95 in Wakefield, Mass.

Maine Dept. of Public Safety spokesperson Shannon Moss said Maine motor vehicle registration information maintained by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles is not generally public record, but emphasized that Maine safety officials are keeping tabs on developments as they unfold during the Massachusetts investigation.

"MIAC (Maine Information and Analysis Center) is aware of the vehicles with the Maine plates and continues to monitor the investigations by other jurisdictions and communicating with them as needed," Moss said today. "We want to assure Mainers that there is no public safety threat or concerns at this time."

According to public documents released on Wednesday the following was found in the two vehicle:

Ford Transit

A CZ P-10C pistol with loaded magazine recovered from the passenger side rear seat

• A Glock 44 .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and loaded magazine

• A Ruger 556 5.56 caliber semi-automatic rifle with a loaded 28-round magazine

• A Palmetto State Armory PA-15 rifleFrom Ford Transit

• A CZ P-10C pistol with loaded magazine recovered from the passenger side rear seat

• A Glock 44 .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol and loaded magazine

• A Ruger 556 5.56 caliber semi-automatic rifle with a loaded 28-round magazine

• A Palmetto State Armory PA-15 rifle

• A DPMS Panther Arms A15 5.56 caliber rifle

• Approximately 630 live 223 caliber rounds of ammunition in a green bag

• Approximately 13 magazines loaded with an unknown quality of ammunition

• A sandwich bag filled with .22 caliber ammunition

• A box of approximately 150 rounds of 9mm Luger caliber ammunition

• 26 12-gauge shotgun shells

• A box of approximately 140 5.56 caliber rounds of ammunition

• A loaded 9mm Luger magazine

• A box of approximately 100 12-gauge shotgun shells

• Seven magazines loaded with an unknown amount of ammunition recovered from a white trash bag under the van's second-row bench seat

• Approximately 50 .308 caliber rounds of ammunition

• Approximately 20 7.62×51 caliber rounds of ammunition

  Honda Ridgeline:

• A Remington model 700 .308 Winchester caliber rifle with a Nikon scope recovered in the back seat

• A loaded Mossberg model 930 12-gauge semi-automatic shotgun (loaded with a 12-gauge shell in the chamber) recovered between the front passenger seat and center console

• A Glock semi-automatic pistol recovered from the back seat

• Three loaded 5.56 magazines

• One loaded .22 caliber magazine

• One loaded .308 caliber magazine

• A clear bag containing ammunition

• A loaded .40 caliber drum magazine

• A box of 20 .308 caliber rounds of ammunition

• A box of 40 9mm Luger rounds of ammunition

• 96 rounds of 5.56 caliber ammunition

• A DPMS Panther Arms A15 5.56 caliber rifle

• Approximately 630 live 223 caliber rounds of ammunition in a green bag

• Approximately 13 magazines loaded with an unknown quality of ammunition

• A sandwich bag filled with .22 caliber ammunition

• A box of approximately 150 rounds of 9mm Luger caliber ammunition

• 26 12-gauge shotgun shells

• A box of approximately 140 5.56 caliber rounds of ammunition

• A loaded 9mm Luger magazine

• A box of approximately 100 12-gauge shotgun shells

• Seven magazines loaded with an unknown amount of ammunition recovered from a white trash bag under the van's second-row bench seat

• Approximately 50 .308 caliber rounds of ammunition

• Approximately 20 7.62×51 caliber rounds of ammunition

Dangerousness and bail hearings continue today in Malden District Court after a stormy first day of hearings on Tuesday when several of the suspects and their supporters in the courtroom and online heckled the presiding judge.

The nine-hour standoff began around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday when a police cruiser stopped to see if two parked vehicles off the northbound I-95 shoulder needed assistance.

The trooper saw they were filling up their vehicles with gas tanks and were heavily armed. When he asked them to show their gun licenses some fled into the woods.

The standoff ended through negotiation as a tightening perimeter of heavy armored police vehicles closed in on the two suspect vehicles.

Police soon learned that the men referred to themselves as a militia and claimed to be part of a group called "The Rise of The Moors," what they describe as a sovereign group that follows federal but not state laws.

The group said it was traveling from Rhode Island to Maine to conduct "training," on private land, but did not specify where in Maine.

None of the men who were dressed in military fatigues and body armor and were armed with long guns and pistols had a driver's license or license to carry firearms, police said.

Those arrested were:

• 29-year-old Jahmal Tavon Sanders Latimer (also known as Jahmal Talib Abdullay Bey) of Providence, R.I.

• 27-year-old Alban El Curraugh of Bronx, N.Y.

• 29-year-old Aaron Lamont Johnson (also known as Tarrif Sharif Bey) of Detroit, Michigan

• 21-year-old Robert Rodriguez of Bronx, N.Y.

• 23-year-old Wilfredo Hernandez (also known as Will Musa) of Bronx, N.Y.

• 40-year-old Quinn Cumberlander of Pawtucket, R.I.

• 34-year-old Lamar Dow of Bronx, N.Y.

• 29-year-old Conrad Pierre of Baldwin, N.Y.

One of the suspects is 17 years old and two others refused to identify themselves.

Each of the 11 suspects is charged with:

• Unlawful possession of a firearm, eight counts;

• Unlawful possession of ammunition;

• Use of body armor in commission of a crime;

• Possession of a high capacity magazine;

• Improper storage of firearms in a vehicle; and

• Conspiracy to commit a crime.

Hernandez, Johnson, Dow and the juvenile are charged with furnishing a false name to police.

Massachusetts State Police and Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said more charges are possible following a search of the defendants' two vehicles.

The 17-year-old is to be released to parental custody, while the other 10 are expected to remain held at Billerica (Mass.) House of Corrections on $100,000 cash bail.