Revealed: The secret army of 200 weapons-obsessed anti-vaxx ex-soldiers called 'Veterans 4 Freedom' plotting attacks on vaccine centres and chaos on Britain's streets

A sinister private army of more than 200 ex-servicemen and women is plotting to cause mayhem across Britain with a series of devastating anti-vaccine offensives, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

Calling itself Veterans 4 Freedom (V4F) and founded by a former Royal Marine commando, the self-styled paramilitary group is made up of 16 operational 'cells' across Britain, linked to a secret leadership command.

Some members appear obsessed with weapons and have discussed violent insurrection, including attacking vaccine centres and targeting employees – what one chillingly termed 'bringing the fight to the people sticking the needle in'.

The group insists all new recruits provide evidence of service in the Armed Forces. 

Once 'vetted' they are given access to a channel on Telegram, an encrypted messaging app used by extremists and criminals due to its high security levels.

Over the past few weeks the group has quietly recruited and hopes to garner public support with a peaceful march on Parliament on September 8 during which the ex-servicemen will wear 'headdress'

An event on Tuesday was the inaugural meeting of the Devon 'cell' of a newly formed 200-strong private army whose disturbing plans to cause mayhem across Britain can today be exposed

Veterans 4 Freedom member 'John H' holds up his gun 

But a Mail on Sunday investigator last week infiltrated V4F and discovered, far from benign, its goal is to escalate covert activities.

One senior member said: 'If it comes to an insurgency, the military will become enemy combatants and we'll take them out using dirty tricks. They are identifiable by wearing a uniform. We are not.'

Another V4F leader, who uses the name Bellzaac on Telegram, stresses publicly that the group only advocates 'legal forms of protest and resistance', but he is less circumspect when addressing the group on the app.

'We are f****** cavalry,' he wrote in one message. 'No one else is going to do what needs to be done when it gets messy. We know it's going to happen, it's not a matter of if.'

Another said of the September 8 march: 'We have to look military and the part, proud protectors of our oaths. This does not mean that in the future we need the same approach.'

Member John H, who posted a picture of himself holding a telescopic rifle, mentions receiving a walkie-talkie from a friend who was once in the Ulster Volunteer Force, loyalist paramilitaries. Others plan to use radios.

Discussing the vaccination of children against coronavirus on the app, John H wrote: 'What security do these people have? How secure will the phials and equipment be in schools. I think a small group of 'parents' could easily restrain the vaccinator and remove the drugs . . .' 

Some of the worrying messages sent between members of the 'cell' - discussing crossbows, slashing tyres and tracking NHS workers

Another member shared photographs among colleagues of vaccine-centre workers and their car registration numbers.

Another common enemy is the police. One ex-serviceman, Paul, posted last week: 'Be good if 'someone' slashed tyres of pig cars all over the country.' 

At least one member – Mikey P – shared photographs among colleagues of vaccine centre workers and their car registration numbers

Elsewhere, another member appears to suggest sabotaging vaccine stores across Britain, saying that if one 'were to suffer an accident . . . might be a start'. In his response, a leader says: 'I know one place . . . Won't say on here but if people want a private chat I'll organise it.'

Earlier this month anti-vax protesters clashed with police when attempting to storm what was once a key BBC site in West London.

Social media video showed officers outside Television Centre. More than 100 demonstrators, organised by the anti-vax group Official Voice, pushed and harangued officers while chanting 'Shame on you'.

None of the V4F veterans were involved but the protest prompted one member to suggest on Telegram that V4F should go to the BBC and take it over, not just stand outside. Another says: 'The BBC building needs f****** burning down.'

Other anti-vax groups have turned their sights on the media.

Last Monday hundreds of activists flooded into ITN Productions, home to ITV and Channel 4 news, occupying its foyer for hours.

V4F is reminiscent of the American amateur militia groups that stormed Congress in January, prompting concerns about the long-term threat of 'domestic extremism' in the US.

And its formation follows the revelation earlier this year that at least 16 members of the Armed Forces have been referred to the UK's terrorism prevention programme – in the majority of cases because of concerns about far-right activity.

The group's founder, Bellzaac, declined to comment.  

The pub garden paramilitaries: Sipping pints and gazing at a map, they could be ramblers – but they’re actually a cell of a deeply worrying new organisation 

The three men and a woman intently studying maps as they sat around a picnic table in a Devon pub garden might easily have passed for ramblers planning an outing. 

Nearby, holidaymakers enjoying the last of the evening sunshine watched their children take turns on a slide. 

Had they studied the seemingly harmless quartet in the corner sipping pints, they might have concluded they weren't quite so innocent after all.

The Mail on Sunday observed as one of the group demonstrated to the others how to use a powerful Baofeng walkie-talkie, before glancing over his shoulder and furtively returning it to his rucksack. 

Each spoke in notably low voices, their conversation liberally sprinkled with acronyms – the kind favoured by the military.

The event on Tuesday was the inaugural meeting of the Devon 'cell' of a newly formed 200-strong private army whose disturbing plans to cause mayhem across Britain can today be exposed.

Binding its members is an opposition to child vaccinations and Covid passports, and what they perceive as a general erosion of freedoms, along with unspecified anger towards the Government, which they claim is run by criminals. 

The three men and a woman intently studying maps as they sat around a picnic table in a Devon pub garden might easily have passed for ramblers planning an outing

Many are quick to embrace and advance conspiracy theories, including a fear that by the year's end there will martial law on the streets of Britain.

But what distinguishes this group – Veterans 4 Freedom (V4F) – from those who have already spent months protesting is that they are all former servicemen and women. 

In their latest incarnation, they are now paramilitaries, each assigned one of 16 operational 'cells' based on location. There is also a secret leadership command.

Because of their Armed Forces training, many are skilled with weapons and, more troubling still, have an apparent willingness to use them. 

While the group's aims sometimes seem amorphous, members speak on Telegram, an encrypted app they use to communicate plans for violent insurrection and 'of a complete system change, from the top down'.

For instance, one member calling himself Ash Styles posted last week: 'If it comes to an insurgency, the military will become enemy combatants and we'll take them out using dirty tricks. They are identifiable by wearing a uniform. We are not.'

Another veteran using the name Scorpio Rising suggested: 'No more leaders, no more royals, no more money system, no more slavery… Government replaced with administration only doing the bidding of the people.' 

Others share tips on how to convert rifles to make them legal and of using crossbows because they are already legal. 

Mikey P's message to the cell members, seemingly encouraging the use of masks to avoid being identified

Targeting vaccine centres and 'bringing the fight to the people sticking the needle in' is another preoccupation. At least one member – Mikey P – shared photographs among colleagues of vaccine centre workers and their car registration numbers. 

Another suggested putting trackers on workers' cars adding: 'Follow them home and do it there.'

A member called 'Fort UK' says: 'People will drop like flies this winter, that's when we might see UN troops and martial law on our streets. I really think this winter will be the darkest we've known.'

This prompts a response from Ash Styles: 'It's our duty to attack them – ANY foreign troops on our streets, and they're classed as enemy combatants.'

Another common enemy is the police. One ex-serviceman, Paul, posted last week: 'Be good if 'someone' slashed tyres of pig cars all over the country.' 

Elsewhere, another member appears to suggest sabotaging vaccine stores across Britain, saying that if one 'were to suffer an accident… might be a start'. 

In his response, a leader says: 'I know one place… Won't say on here but if people want a private chat I'll organise it.' 

In messages seen by the Mail on Sunday, one member of the group shows off his air rifle collection

Another member, calling himself Blaine Robinson, says: 'When the vax starts becoming forced we need to start disrupting lines. Power, supply chains, hitting the centres etc.'

Paranoid about infiltration, the group's leaders are usually more circumspect about what they say, even on Telegram, which is popular among extremists and criminals due to its high levels of security.

The group plans to go public on September 8 when it will meet in Hyde Park in Central London to 'march on Parliament'. Members – all of whom are vetted, having provided 'proof of military service' – will wear service 'headdress'.

This protest, say the group's leaders, must be peaceful to gain public support. In any case, as the group has emphasised in its recruitment publicity, it only advocates 'legal forms of protest and resistance'. But in private, it is an altogether different story.

Weapon of choice: Medieval-looking crossbow which can be bought online 

Pictured: Crossbow which is available to purchase online

Some of the V4F members appear determined to lay their hands on weapons, with many favouring crossbows because no licence or registration is needed to own one.

One, who uses the name Scorpio Rising on the encrypted app Telegram, extols the semi-automatic self-loading rifle, calling it a ‘great bit of kit... bit heavy for a yomp but great for the end job’. 

He adds: ‘Must be storage unit somewhere... with ’em all stored.’

One of the leaders of the group, known only as H, replies: ‘Would love to get my paws on one.’ 

He is advised to stick to crossbows. Earlier this year, there were calls from a woman who survived an attack to restrict sales. 

Laura Sugden’s partner was shot with one by an intruder. She said crossbows could be bought on the internet, and added: ‘They are lethal medieval weapons.’

During a discussion on ways to get around UK gun laws, the V4F members were urged to ‘start looking at tactical crossbows... lethal but legal’. 

One veteran advises the group: ‘I was looking at a pistol kit that comes with a stock to convert it to a rifle... if you buy it get round the law by keeping the rifle barrel, stock and silencer fitted to avoid needing a licence.’ 

Another veteran shows off his arsenal of air rifles, boasting they can ‘take a man’s eye out at 40 yards’.

 

One of the leaders, a privately educated former Royal Marine commando who uses the name Bellzaac on Telegram and normally recommends caution, last week messaged: 'We are f****** cavalry. No one else is going to do what needs to be done when it gets messy. We know it's going to happen, it's not a matter of if.'

Another said: 'We have to look military and the part, proud protectors of our oaths. This does not mean that in the future we need the same approach.'

But when the chatter becomes too inflammatory, Bellzaac encourages members to speak in private.

He also tells veterans that when things turn ugly 'you will have your cells and local groups' or 'if you want to do something do it in your local cell'.

One member of the Devon cell, body-building fanatic 'Jonno', needed no encouragement, boasting to members last week: 'Today I linked up with the Bristol movement. We shut down a vax centre – had the staff running out of the back door.'

His message was accompanied with a laughing emoji.

A member of the same cell, who uses the pseudonym Pol MacAoidh, sent a message to Jonno and the others attending the pub meeting. 

'So tonight we are meeting f2f face to in our local group,' he wrote. 'Establishing group ERVs Emergency and ones near each of our locales. Plus a lights out comms plan.'

After the gathering, he reported back, saying: 'Great ideas for local action… Devon group also discussed blockading any supermarkets that require jab passports. And QRF Quick Reaction could turn up at local schools if they are jib-jabbing.'

He then adds ominously: 'I am all for taking note of who the complicit are. Register them on a list. RegisterCovidFraudOffender@

Protonmail.com Like the nazi hunters did. That is all MPs, local councillors, chief constables, doctors, police officers. 

Any pos who perpetuates this tyrant. After all when the tide turns we want to know who to tar and feather.'

The group's belief that its march next month will win the hearts and minds – and the support – of serving members of the Armed Forces would appear misjudged, if an anti-vaccination protest at the BBC earlier this month is anything to go by. 

Taking part were two Parachute Regiment veterans – neither linked to V4F – who were reported to the police after paratroopers helped track them down.

Images from the protest at Television Centre showing their distinctive maroon berets caused anger among serving personnel.

V4F began to take shape a few months ago when Belzaac decided that the original name, Patriots GB, sounded too 'neo-Nazi'.

After a Mail on Sunday reporter tried to contact Belzaac for comment last week, he received a threatening phone call from someone describing himself as the leader's 'representative'.

Of the September 8 march, Scorpio Rising tells the group in a message 'I do like the idea of discipline and keeping formation and not being all leary, spitting and shouting etc. 

But I do quite fancy the rumble of war drums marching with us. Also a shield wall of umbrellas when required so they can't see anything… for me it's also about saying we are here, we are not scared and we stand in defiance… We will not be policed or governed by criminals and will not kneel to a dictatorship.'

Another member, Chazz, replied: 'But we as soldiers should be thinking about doing more than marches.' 

He goes on to suggest 'storming vax centres' and 'going to schools when they start doing it there and doing the same. 

Actually going into the BBC and taking it over not just standing outside'. Another says: 'The BBC building needs f****** burning down.'

The group has chilling echoes of the many amateur militias behind January's invasion of Congress in the United States, where 'domestic extremism' is seen as a long-term threat to peace and stability.