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Four Arrested in Los Angeles for Alleged New Year’s Eve Bomb Plot
The US Justice Department announced on Monday that four individuals have been arrested in the Los Angeles area for allegedly planning a coordinated bomb attack set to occur on New Year’s Eve.
The suspects, Audrey Ilene Carroll, Dante Garfield, Zachary Aaron Page, and Tina Lai, are reportedly members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, a group with an anti-government ideology, according to the FBI and the Justice Department.
A federal court complaint reveals that the group planned to plant improvised explosive devices (IEDs) at multiple locations across Los Angeles, intending to carry out a series of bombings. The devices were described as “complex pipe bombs,” and the group allegedly took various precautions, such as using burner phones, avoiding certain locations, and setting up alibis through streaming movies at home.
FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the group’s extremist motives, stating that they were targeting five separate locations across Los Angeles in a series of coordinated IED attacks on New Year’s Eve.
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The investigation also revealed that the suspects were using the encrypted messaging platform, Signal, to communicate about the plot. Carroll allegedly provided a detailed list of components, chemicals, and tools required to build the bombs.
On December 12, the group reportedly travelled to the Mojave Desert to construct and test explosive devices. According to an FBI Bomb Technician, the materials found at the campsite could have been used to create both IEDs and Molotov cocktails.
US Attorney Bill Essayli linked the arrests to a broader effort by the Trump administration to combat far-left extremism, specifically highlighting the threat posed by radical groups similar to Antifa.
Although the suspects allegedly planned to target US companies, the specific companies were not identified. The complaint also stated that the group did not intend to kill people and would attempt to warn anyone nearby the bombs.
The four defendants are scheduled to appear in federal court in Los Angeles later today.
