FBI arrests ‘Cali Bois’ extremist on gun charges for trying to arm ‘Boogaloo’ movement: report

Federal authorities are attempting to disrupt efforts by the "boogaloo bois" movement to incite a violent race war that will bring down the federal government.

"The FBI quietly arrested a man living in Pomona late last month after he apparently attempted to sell gun attachments to a local group of anti-government extremists to make their firearms more deadly and easier to conceal, according to court documents," the Los Angeles Daily Newsreports. "Matthew Edward Chen was arrested on Jan. 28, about a week after he sold three auto sears — devices that can be attached to a firearm to make it fully automatic — to a purported member of the 'Cali Bois,' a California-based group that subscribes to an ideology known as 'Boogaloo,' an online movement that wants to bring down the U.S. government by encouraging civil war through violent acts."

Chen allegedly sold the auto sears to a second "Cali Bois" member — who was actually an undercover FBI agent — and then invited the agent to his apartment "where he allegedly showed the agent more weapons, silencers, and videos of himself firing guns in the desert."

The FBI agent described the interaction in court documents.

READ: Right-wing extremists wage 'meme war' in race to attract angry Trump fanatics

“Chen then returned to the kitchen with a rifle slung around his neck and carrying a Glock semi-automatic handgun. The handgun had a removable stock. The rifle had a removable silencer,” the FBI explained. “Chen provided the (undercover agent) with instructions regarding how to install an auto sear on the Glock handgun, and demonstrated how…the handgun would operate as a fully automatic firearm.”

The "Boogaloo" movement has a violent history.

"In the complaint, the FBI noted other attacks it believed were inspired by the Boogaloo movement: A 2019 shooting at the Earl Cabell Federal Building in Dallas, in which only the attacker was killed; and two 2020 shootings in Northern California, in which Steven Carrillo, an active-duty U.S. Air Force servicemember, was charged with killing a security guard outside a federal building in Oakland and a Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department deputy," the newspaper reported. "According to the Program on Extremism at George Washington University, which posted the criminal complaint against Chen, at least six Boogaloo members have been arrested in California since 2021, including two who later pleaded guilty to attempting to help Carrillo avoid arrest by federal agents. Around the country, at least 44 people espousing Boogaloo ideology have been arrested in the last two years, according to the program."

The FBI alleges "Cali Bois" movement "maintains active chapters" serving the Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego areas.

Chen was released after posting $120,000 bond.