FBI thwarts planned New Year’s Eve bombings by radical group

Federal investigators say they have prevented a string of bombings planned for New Year’s Eve in Orange County, Calif. Members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front planned to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles, according to a Monday statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi. She characterized the Turtle Island Liberation Front as far-left, anti-government, anti-capitalist, and pro-Palestine.

Four people with Los Angeles connections were arrested over the terror threat, FBI Director Kash Patel said Monday. The four suspects identified themselves as Turtle Island Liberation Front members, he said. The suspects allegedly planned to coordinate targeted attacks on five Los Angeles locations with improvised explosive devices.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli identified the four suspects as Audrey Carroll, 30, Zachary Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lai, 41. Each received charges of conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, with more charges expected later this month, he said at a Monday press conference. Essayli said the plan included step-by-step instructions on how to build IEDs and explicitly stated the attack’s intention as a terror plot.

How were the suspects caught? The suspects were arrested on Friday after trying to construct and detonate IEDs in the desert, according to officials. The suspects planned to plant backpacks filled with explosives at multiple Southern California locations, rigged to blow up at midnight on New Year’s Eve, FBI Assistant Director in Charge Akil Davis said at the press conference. Davis showed what he said was surveillance footage of the suspects preparing the precursor chemicals in the Lucerne Valley just before the FBI’s SWAT and hostage rescue teams arrived and arrested the four.

Did officials identify any other suspects? Investigators in New Orleans arrested a fifth individual believed to be tied to the Turtle Island Liberation Front who was allegedly planning a separate attack, according to Patel.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Emily Belz’s report on concerns about a possible resurgence of domestic terrorism in the United States.