FBI arrests 4 members of radical terror cell planning lethal plot throughout LA
The FBI has arrested four members of a radical group who were allegedly planning a terror plot across Los Angeles, as well as attacks on members of ICE.
Officials took four alleged members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front into custody over the weekend after plots of bombings, targeting at least five locations across LA and Orange County on New Year’s Eve, were revealed.
‘After an intense investigation, the Department of Justice, working with our FBI, prevented what would have been a massive and horrific terror plot in the Central District of California,’ Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X.
‘[TILF] 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 in vehicles,’ she continued.
The four were arrested in Lucerne Valley, where officials said they were testing explosive devices which are believed to have been intended for the alleged attacks, Fox News reported.
According to FBI officials, the group members planned to use improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, across the five separate locations in LA, Fox News reported.
FBI Director Kash Patel posted on X that those taken into custody ‘self-identified’ as members of the TILF group, and the bureau disrupted a ‘credible, imminent terrorist threat.’
All four have been charged with conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, seen with FBI Director Kash Patel on the right, announced the arrests of four radical pro-Palestinian group members allegedly involved in a terror plot in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve
A recent post from the Turtle Island Liberation Front’s Instagram page as they protested outside of a Home Depot in November with signs that read ‘Death to ICE’
A post from the TILF group, seen protesting ICE outside of a Home Depot in November, compared the conflict in Palestine to the ‘erasure of Indigenous people here in America’
Patel announced that a fifth person believed to be connected to the group was arrested in New Orleans for allegedly planning a separate ‘violent’ attack.
‘Outstanding work by our investigators and law enforcement partners @TheJusticeDept. Their work undoubtedly saved countless lives,’ Patel added.
The group, TILF, is said to be a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist group, according to Patel and Bondi.
‘This was an incredible effort by our US Attorneys’ Office and the FBI to ensure Americans can live in peace,’ Bondi said. ‘We will continue to pursue these terror groups and bring them to justice.’
Patel announced that the Los Angeles division of the FBI will be holding a press conference later today with further information.
On Instagram, the group said that its founding chapter resides in LA with a goal to free ‘Turtle Island,’ an Indigenous name that refers to North America, from the ‘illegal American empire.’
A recent post from the group compared the conflict in Palestine to the ‘erasure of Indigenous people here in America.’
Another post declared that ‘Peaceful protest will never be enough.’
FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X that bureau disrupted a ‘credible, imminent terrorist threat’
‘We are up against fascist colonizers,’ it continued. ‘There are no morals for us to appeal to, no sense of justice or what’s right. We cannot vote ourselves our of a mass colonizer occupation.’
‘The only way out is through resistance.’
‘Imperialism is capitalism with a gun,’ a separate post read. ‘No liberation without social revolution.’
At a protest outside of The Home Depot in November, the group stood with facial coverings and signs reading ‘Death to ICE.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the FBI for further information.
This is a breaking news story.
