Federal authorities arrested four people in the Los Angeles area for allegedly planning coordinated improvised explosive device attacks targeting multiple locations on New Year’s Eve
An investigation by multiple federal agencies led to the disruption of an alleged terrorist attack plot targeting locations across Southern California. The Department of Justice and FBI announced the arrests, with officials stating the operation prevented what could have been a devastating series of coordinated bombings.
United States Attorney General Pam Bondi stated the investigation prevented what would have been a massive plot in the Central District of California. She identified the alleged perpetrators as members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, describing the organization as far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist.
Details of alleged plot
FBI Director Kash Patel explained that authorities disrupted what they characterized as a credible, imminent threat through the arrests of four individuals in the Los Angeles area. A fifth person was taken into custody by the FBI’s New Orleans office. The suspects allegedly identified as members of a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front and were planning coordinated improvised explosive device attacks on New Year’s Eve targeting five separate locations across Los Angeles.
U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli identified the four Los Angeles area arrestees as Audrey Carroll, 30, Zachary Aaron Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lai, 41. The four face charges of conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
Organization and planning
Carroll allegedly organized the more radical offshoot known as the Order of the Black Lotus. She purportedly created a detailed bombing plan to attack five or more locations during the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebration. Prosecutors allege she and co-defendant Page led efforts to construct explosive devices and recruit additional participants for their scheme.
The group allegedly communicated through the encrypted messaging platform Signal. Carroll reportedly provided a list identifying components, chemicals and tools along with prices required to construct the pipe bombs needed for the planned attack. Federal court documents allege three members intended to plant backpacks with improvised explosive devices at different points along their assigned buildings, with devices described as complex pipe bombs.
Desert testing and surveillance
Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office Akil Davis reported the four were arrested near Twentynine Palms on Friday while planning and rehearsing their attack. On December 12, the group allegedly traveled to the Mojave Desert to construct and test explosive devices.
Video footage captured by a surveillance aircraft showed the group in the desert with precursor chemicals, beginning to assemble their materials and components. An FBI bomb technician who reviewed materials found at the campsite determined the components could likely be used to build both improvised explosive devices and Molotov cocktail devices, and that the components were readily assemblable.
The four suspects were taken into custody without incident by the Los Angeles based SWAT Team and the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team shortly after the desert surveillance.
Targets and scope
The alleged targets included at least five Amazon-type logistics centers in Orange County and Los Angeles County, though officials did not disclose specific company names. Davis stated the suspects envisioned planting backpacks with improvised explosive devices to be detonated simultaneously at multiple Southern California locations targeting U.S. companies, with detonations planned for midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Essayli indicated the group was willing and wanting to expand their operation if they could recruit more members. The five people arrested are believed to be the specific individuals behind the New Year’s Eve plot, though additional search warrants were executed and evidence remains under review.
The person arrested in New Orleans was not directly tied to the New Year’s Eve plot but posed a threat to agents serving a search warrant, leading to that arrest.