Inside Turtle Island Liberation Front who tested | Political News

Authorities launched more data on the suspects of the thwarted New Year’s Eve terror plot that was set to happen across different Los Angeles areas, describing the 4 people as “radical” and “anti-government.” 

According to Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the 4 suspects — Audrey Ilene Carroll, Dante Garfield, Zachary Aaron Page, and Tina Lai — self-identified as half of the Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF), an extremist group motivated by pro-Palestinian, anti-law-enforcement, and anti-government ideology.

“The 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-government movement that calls for their associates to rise up and fight back against capitalism, ” Essayli said in a news convention.

According to a federal court grievance, explained by Essayli at the news convention, three members would plant “backpacks with IEDs [Improvised Explosive Devices] at different points along their assigned buildings.” The devices they have been planning on utilizing can be “complex pipe bombs.”

The suspects have been arrested in Lucerne Valley, a desert metropolis east of Los Angeles. There, they have been allegedly testing the explosive devices in preparation for the assaults that have been set to happen less than three weeks later.

“One of the leaders of the organization, defendant Audrey Carroll, helped organize an even more radical faction of the group called the Order of the Black Lotus. Each of the defendants charged today was also a member of the Order of the Black Lotus. Carroll described this group to her co-conspirators as everything radical,” he said.

The U.S. attorney also pointed to an Instagram account that was believed to belong to the group, which described its function as liberating “Turtle Island,” an indigenous identify used to refer to North America, from the “illegal American empire.”

“Freeing the world from American imperialism is the only way to a safe and peaceful future,” it added.

FBI Director Kash Patel initially confirmed the arrests on social media, saying his company “disrupted a credible, imminent terrorist threat” over the weekend. He added that in the times following the initial arrests, the FBI also arrested a fifth particular person it believed to be linked to a TILF subgroup, which was also planning a separate terrorist assault.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi also commented on the plot, praising the FBI’s efforts to stop the violent outbreak. According to the Attorney General, who oversees Patel’s FBI, the group was also planning an assault on ICE brokers.

“The Turtle Island Liberation Front—a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government, and anti-capitalist group—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 and vehicles,” she wrote.

This was an unimaginable effort by our U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the @FBI to guarantee Americans can live in peace. We will continue to pursue these terror teams and carry them to justice,” she added.