WASHINGTON \u2014 The FBI arrested five members of an \u201canti-capitalist, anti-government\u201d extremist group\u00a0on Friday and charged them with an alleged plot to carry out coordinated bombings in and around Los Angeles on New Year\u2019s Eve, according to officials and a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n
The \u201ccredible, imminent terrorist threat\u201d to five unidentified companies\u2019 logistics centers\u00a0in\u00a0Southern California\u00a0came from radical members of an offshoot of the\u00a0left-wing\u00a0Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), FBI Director Kash\u00a0Patel and other law enforcement officials revealed Monday.<\/p>\n
The splinter group called themselves the Order of the Black Lotus and passed along an \u201ceight-page, handwritten document titled \u2018OPERATION MIDNIGHT SUN’\u201d that laid out the bombing plot to a confidential FBI source, according to a criminal complaint filed Saturday in Los Angeles federal court.<\/p>\n
The FBI arrested four alleged members of a radical pro-Palestinian group accused of plotting a terror attack on New Year\u2019s Eve in Los Angeles. @turtleislandliberationfrontla\/Instagram<\/p>\n
Four\u00a0of the suspects\u00a0were collared in Lucerne Valley in the Mojave Desert, where they were captured on video attempting to\u00a0test\u00a0improvised explosive devices (IEDs), Los Angeles first assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli told reporters at a news conference.<\/p>\n
The arrests were\u00a0first reported by Fox News<\/a>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0quartet\u00a0\u2014 Audrey Ilene Carroll, 30;\u00a0Zachary Aaron Page, 32;\u00a0Dante Gaffield, 24; and\u00a0Tina Lai, 41 \u2014 have been charged\u00a0with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. A fifth unidentified suspect was arrested in New Orleans while planning a separate attack.<\/p>\n Carroll and Page led the group and convened a private Signal chat where they used codenames, with Carroll identified as \u201cAsiginaak,\u201d Page identified as \u201cAsh Kerrigan\u201d or \u201ccthulu\u2019s\u00a0daughter,\u201d Gaffield as\u00a0\u201cNomad\u201d and Lai as\u00a0\u201cKickwhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The group had begun assembling the\u00a0\u201ccomplex pipe bombs\u201d with \u201chomemade gunpowder\u201d in the desert when FBI agents arrested them on Dec. 12.<\/p>\n Attorney General Pam Bondi with FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday, Dec. 4, 2025. Bonnie Cash\/UPI\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n \u201cCarroll\u2019s bomb plot was explicit,\u201d Essayli said. \u201cIt included step-by step instructions to build IEDs, or improvised explosive devices, and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles. Carroll also made clear her desires. She said, \u2018What we are doing will be considered a terrorist act.’\u201d<\/p>\n The sophisticated criminal scheme involved each participant wearing so-called \u201cBlacBloc\u201d clothing, using burner phones, wearing gloves, concealing their hair, paying for black powder pipe bomb\u00a0materials in cash and even \u201cplacing a small pebble in a shoe to alter natural gait to obfuscate their identification,\u201d the complaint stated.<\/p>\n The radicals had also planned to target \u201cproperty and facilities operated by two separate companies that are used or engaged in activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n At a Dec. 7 meeting, Page suggested it was\u00a0\u201c100,000[%]\u201d likely that the FBI would be tracking them and suggested all members take appropriate precautions, while Carroll shared she had purchased 13 PVC pipes and two five-pound bags of \u201cpotassium\u00a0nitrate on Amazon using a burner account\u201d for the bombs.<\/p>\n Carroll and Page also discussed follow-up attacks \u2014 including plans to target ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in January or February 2026, according to Essayli and the complaint, which Carroll said \u201cwould take some of them out and scare the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tStart your day with all you need to know\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMorning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n In a separate Signal exchange with the FBI\u2019s source, Carroll revealed she \u201ckind\u00a0of had this notebook where I wrote down multiple plans that\u00a0never happened or got delayed \/ so it\u2019s like \/ my terrorist\u00a0diary \/\u00a0lmaooooo\u00a0\/ I have to get rid of that.\u201d<\/p>\n The foursome were scheduled to make an initial appearance in Los Angeles federal court at 4:30 p.m. ET Monday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe intend to file additional charges in the coming weeks as we finish reviewing the evidence,\u201d Essayli said. \u201cThe defendants are all radical anti-government members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, which, according to their own social media, is an anti-capitalist, anti-gun movement movement that calls for their associates to rise up and fight back against capitalism.\u201d<\/p>\n Search warrants were executed nationwide in connection with the domestic terror probe, via a \u201ccomplex and coordinated\u201d effort singling out the accused terrorists\u2019 properties.<\/strong><\/p>\n Posters were discovered at Page\u2019s residentce stating \u201cDeath to America, Long Live Turtle Island and Palestine\u201d and \u201cDeath to ICE, Turtle Island Liberation Front,\u201d Essayli said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis investigation crossed the entire country,\u201d FBI Los Angeles Field Office assistant director in charge Akil Davis\u00a0also\u00a0<\/strong>confirmed at Monday\u2019s press conference.<\/p>\n The TILF\u2019s Los Angeles chapter has posted photos on its Instagram of its members waving Palestinian flags and brandishing a \u201cDeath to ICE!!!\u201d sign \u2014 and proclaimed that it \u201cis dedicated to \u2018Liberation\u00a0through decolonization and tribal sovereignty,\u2019\u201d the criminal complaint shows.<\/p>\n The FBI arrested four alleged members of the radical pro-Palestinian group accused of plotting a terror attack on New Year\u2019s Eve. @turtleislandliberationfrontla\/Instagram<\/p>\n