Last Updated on 07/09/2024 by Arun jain
A 20-year-old Pakistani national was arrested in Canada this week and charged with plotting to kill “as many Jewish civilians as possible” in New York City on or near the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israelis. The Justice Department complaint was unsealed Friday.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, who lives in Canada, tried to cross the border with the intention of going to New York City, where he planned a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn in support of the Islamic State, prosecutors said.
“New York is perfect for targeting Jews,” he wrote to an associate, according to the filing, adding, “We could easily round up a lot of Jews.”
Mr. Khan was taken into custody by Canadian authorities on Wednesday after trying to enter the United States from Ormstown, about 12 miles north of the New York state border.
This complaintFiled in the Southern District of New York, it also referred to an unnamed “accomplice,” but it was unclear whether the person was in custody or an informant.
Mr. Khan is accused of attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, a designated foreign terrorist organization, and faces up to 20 years in prison.
In a statement, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland thanked FBI investigators and said U.S. officials are “very grateful to our Canadian partners for their decisive law enforcement actions in this matter.”
“Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — need not fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack,” he said.
Since last November, law enforcement officials in the United States and Canada began monitoring his electronic communications after he posted expressions of support for ISIS and distributed propaganda videos and literature from groups designated as terrorist organizations in both countries.
His encrypted messages that prosecutors said focused on his efforts to recruit members for the terror cell, acquire weapons, and identify Jewish targets in New York.
Two of the people they believed to be fellow ISIS supporters were in fact law enforcement officers. Over the past year, they have gathered detailed information about his intent to launch a “coordinated attack” using AR-15-style weapons to target Jewish or Israel-related targets, including organizations affiliated with the Chabad Hasidic movement.
Mr. Khan believed that October 7 would be an ideal time for the attack because large numbers of Jews would gather for the anniversary, and because it came four days before Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. He originally intended to attack an unnamed city, but switched to New York after noticing a high concentration of Jewish people there, prosecutors said.
The Justice Department has initiated extradition proceedings against Mr. Khan. It was not immediately clear if he had obtained legal representation in the United States.
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