BATON ROUGE: Plans to “carry out an attack” in New Orleans were thwarted after an ex-Marine was arrested while on the way to the Louisiana city with guns and body armor in the car, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press.
Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities said they had been surveilling Legnon due to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-government group. Four members of the group were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles, as they were rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities said.
Plans of an attack in New Orleans began to intensify after several hundred immigration agents were deployed to southeast Louisiana, authorities said. The enforcement operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” has a goal of 5,000 arrests. The crackdown is the latest in a series of enforcement operations that have also unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Legnon believed it was time to “recreate” Waco with an attack in New Orleans, authorities said in court documents. They pointed to a Dec. 4 chat message by Legnon written under the alias “Kateri The Witch” the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived in New Orleans. Legnon’s alias had “she/her” written beside it, but jail records referred to Legnon as male.
Investigators believe Legnon’s chat message referred to the 1993 siege at a Waco, Texas, compound that ended after 51 days and the deaths of four federal agents, a religious leader and 76 of his followers.
Eight days after the post in the group chat, Legnon appeared to place a weapon into a car, an FBI agent surveilling Legnon said in the court document.
“On my way” to New Orleans, Legnon said in a group chat. Legnon then shared a video of a gun and bullet proof vest and wrote “just incase.”
After Legnon’s Dec. 12 arrest, agents found an assault rifle, a pistol, a gas canister and body armor inside the car. Inside Legnon’s apartment in New Iberia, Louisiana, agents found sniper training manuals, SWAT training manuals, assault rifles, and rounds of ammunition.
Court documents did not list an attorney who could speak on Legnon’s behalf. The Office of the State Public Defender and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana did not immediately respond to requests for information on Legnon’s attorney, and jail officials said they did not know who might be representing Legnon.
Officials say Legnon “is suspected to be associated with” the Turtle Island Liberation Front. The group calls for “liberation through decolonization tribal sovereignty,” based on court documents. Federal authorities described the group as “a far-left, pro-Palestine, anti-government and anti-capitalist group.”
In the California case, a member of the group created a detailed plan to bomb five or more businesses across Southern California on New Year’s Eve. The plot included planting backpacks filled with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Two of the group’s members also had discussed plans to attack ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs in 2026, according to the criminal complaint.
Some details of the foiled plot in California are eerily similar to this year’s deadly attack in New Orleans’ famed French Quarter.
In the early hours of Jan. 1, 2025, Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove his truck down Bourbon Street, plowing into New Year’s reveler’s — killing 14 people and injuring dozens more. Prior to the attack, Jabbar, who was later fatally shot by police, had placed multiple bombs in coolers around the French Quarter. None of the explosive devices detonated. Jabbar was inspired by DAESH, authorities said.
Plans for attack in New Orleans thwarted, authorities say
https://arab.news/zpv8p
Plans for attack in New Orleans thwarted, authorities say
- Plans of an attack in New Orleans began to intensify after several hundred immigration agents were deployed to southeast Louisiana, authorities said
Italian PM pledges to deepen cooperation with African states
- The plan, launched in 2024, aims to promote investment-led cooperation rather than traditional aid
ADDIS ABABA: Italy pledged to deepen cooperation with African countries at its second Italy-Africa summit, the first held on African soil, to review projects launched in critical sectors such as energy and infrastructure during Italy’s first phase of the Mattei Plan for Africa.
The plan, launched in 2024, aims to promote investment-led cooperation rather than traditional aid.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni addressed dozens of African heads of state and governments in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, and reiterated that a successful partnership would depend on Italy’s “ability to draw from African wisdom” and ensure lessons are learned.
“We want to build things together,” she told African heads of state. “We want to be more consistent with the needs of the countries involved.”
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Italy had provided Africa with a gateway to Europe through these partnerships.
“This is a moment to move from dialogue to action,” he said.
“By combining Africa’s energetic and creative population with Europe’s experience, technology, and capital, we can build solutions that deliver prosperity to our continents and beyond.”
After the Italy-Africa summit concluded, African leaders remained in Addis Ababa for the annual African Union Summit.
Kenyan writer and political analyst Nanjala Nyabola said tangible results from such summits depend on preparations made by countries.
African governments often focus on “optics instead of actually making summits a meaningful engagement,” she said.
Instead of waiting for a list of demands, countries should “present the conclusions of an extended period of mapping the national needs” and engage in dialogue to determine how those needs can be met.
Since it was launched two years ago, the Mattei Plan has directly involved 14 African nations and has launched or advanced around 100 projects in crucial sectors, including energy and climate transition, agriculture and food security, physical and digital infrastructure, healthcare, water, culture and education, training, and the development of artificial intelligence, according to the Italian government.
