Four alleged members of an extremist group were arrested on suspicion of planning coordinated bombings on New Year’s Eve in the Los Angeles area, federal authorities said Monday.
The arrests were made last week in rural Lucerne Valley, a San Bernardino community in the southern Mojave Desert northeast of Los Angeles. The suspects are accused of preparing to test improvised explosive devices in the desert ahead of the planned bombings, according to the federal criminal complaint filed Saturday.
They are members of an offshoot of a pro-Palestinian group dubbed the Turtle Island Liberation Front, the complaint said. During a news conference Monday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli described the group as a “radical anti-government” group.
All four face charges including conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.
The group is alleged to have been plotting to set off a series of bombings at multiple targets in California beginning on New Year’s Eve and also planned to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles Attorney General Pam Bondi said on social media.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc1UMqoFUog
Essayli said the four people under arrest are from the Los Angeles area. He said one of the suspects created a detailed plan to bomb five or more locations across Southern California on New Year’s Eve.
“It included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs…and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles,” Essayli said.
Evidence photos included in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.
At Monday’s news conference, authorities showed aerial video that appeared to show the preparation site. The video from Dec. 12 shows the operation in the desert shortly before law enforcement officers made the arrests, federal authorities said.
The suspects brought bomb-making components to the campsite that included PVC pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, material to be used as fuses and other items, the complaint states.
