FBI foils New Year’s Eve bomb plot in Los Angeles, US attorney general says
Four suspects, members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, allegedly planned bombings starting at midnight on New Year’s Eve
Four people were facing criminal charges in connection with what US Attorney General Pam Bondi described on Monday as a foiled bomb plot that contemplated multiple targets, including US immigration agents and their vehicles.
The four individuals have been charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to the complaint filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California.
“The Turtle Island Liberation Front - a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group - was preparing to conduct a series of bombings against multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve. The group also planned to target ICE agents and vehicles,” Bondi said in a statement.
The bombing plot called for planting explosive devices at five locations targeting two US companies at midnight on New Year’s Eve in the Los Angeles area, the complaint said. The case comes not long after Bondi issued a memo to law enforcement agents and prosecutors, ordering them to ramp up investigations into “extremist” groups with leftist-leaning agendas.
The four defendants named in the complaint are Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30, Zachary Aaron Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and 41-year-old Tina Lai.
According to a sworn statement in support of the complaint, Carroll in November presented an eight-page handwritten document to a paid confidential source titled “Operation Midnight Sun” that described a bomb plot.