FBI

Federal authorities arrested and a federal grand jury has indicted four people they say were members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front (including an offshoot called the Order of the Black Lotus) in a foiled plan dubbed “Operation Midnight Sun” to carry out coordinated New Year’s Eve bombings across Southern California, allegedly targeting at least five technology and logistics businesses and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and vehicles. Agents arrested the suspects in the Mojave Desert (Lucerne Valley) as they began preparing and testing improvised explosive devices — seizing bomb components (PVC pipe, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur powders, fuse material), encrypted-chat evidence and plans — and prosecutors have charged them with counts including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, possession of a destructive device, providing material support to terrorists and related firearms offenses.