diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/interface.py b/plugins/module_utils/interface.py
index bcd8b0e8..3461acc2 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/interface.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/interface.py
@@ -321,11 +321,18 @@ def _pre_remove_target_elt(self):
         """ processing before removing elt """
         self.obj['if'] = self.target_elt.find('if').text
 
-        self._remove_all_separators(self.target_elt.tag)
-        self._remove_all_rules(self.target_elt.tag)
-
-        self.setup_interface_pre_cmds += "interface_bring_down('{0}');\n".format(self.target_elt.tag)
-        self.result['ifname'] = self.target_elt.tag
+        ifname = self.target_elt.tag
+        for ifgroup_elt in self.pfsense.ifgroups.findall("ifgroupentry"):
+            members = ifgroup_elt.find('members').text.split()
+            if ifname in members:
+                self.module.fail_json(msg='The interface is part of the group {0}. Please remove it from the group first.'.format(
+                                      ifgroup_elt.find('ifname').text))
+
+        self._remove_all_separators(ifname)
+        self._remove_all_rules(ifname)
+
+        self.setup_interface_pre_cmds += "interface_bring_down('{0}');\n".format(ifname)
+        self.result['ifname'] = ifname
 
     def _remove_all_rules(self, interface):
         """ delete all interface rules """