Four people have been arrested in connection with an alleged terrorism plot to bomb five targets in Los Angeles and Orange counties on New Year’s Eve, federal authorities announced Monday.
The four defendants were arrested Friday in Lucerne Valley in San Bernardino County and were allegedly part of an offshoot of a Pro-Palestinian group called Turtle Island Liberation Front, officials said.
Those arrested in Southern California are:
— Audrey Carroll, 30;
— Zachary Aaron Page, 32;
— Dante Gaffield, 24; and
— Tina Lai, 41.
The four are charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court.
The FBI said Monday that a fifth individual believed to be connected to the same extremist group was arrested in New Orleans for allegedly planning a separate attack.
The suspects were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert as they unloaded bomb-making materials from their cars in preparation to construct and test explosives that were to be used in coordinated attacks on targets throughout the region, according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
The group also allegedly planned to target U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in January or February, Essayli said during an FBI press conference.
Essayli said the four group members were arrested before they were able to finish building an actual destructive device.
Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles bureau, said group members “were determined to detonate explosives at multiple businesses” at the same time at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
“The subjects arrested envisioned planting backpacks with improvised explosive devices to be detonated at multiple locations in Southern California targeting U.S. companies,” he said.
Officials did not name the companies but Essayli indicated that at least five “Amazon-type logistics centers” in Los Angeles and Orange counties were targeted.
The defendants are expected to appear before a magistrate judge Monday afternoon in downtown Los Angeles.