Pak National Charged with Planning Terror Attack on Jews in New York, Arrested in Canada

New York: A 20-year-old Pakistani citizen, residing in Canada, has been arrested and charged by the US for planning a terror attack targeting Jews in New York City around the October 7 anniversary of Hamas' attack on Israel.

Khan, or Shahzeb Jadoon, planned a terrorist attack in New York City (NYC) around October 7 with the “goal of slaughtering, in the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), as many Jewish people as possible,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement on Friday.

Identified as an ISIS supporter, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was arrested on Wednesday in Ormstown town, about 60 km south of Montreal in Canada, and approximately 20 km from the US-Canada border. He also faces three charges in Canada.

He was arrested in connection with a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York for attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS.

If convicted, Khan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Hamas militants based in the Gaza Strip launched an unprecedented attack on Israel by land, air and sea on October 7, 2023.

As per Khan’s preparation in connection with the planned attack, Khan attempted to reach the US-Canada border. He used three separate cars to travel across Canada towards the US before being stopped near Ormstown.

Thanks to the investigative work of the American agency, “and the quick action of our Canadian law enforcement partners, the defendant was taken into custody”, said Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC News) and added that Khan now faces three charges in Canada.

The charges are, ‘Attempting to leave Canada to commit an offence for a terrorist group’, ‘Participating in the activities of a terrorist group’, and ‘Conspiracy to commit an offence by violating US immigration law – entering or attempting to enter the US unlawfully’, it added.

According to the complaint filed in New York, Khan attempted to travel from Canada to New York City, where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting in support of the IS at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn, New York.

Khan began posting on social media and communicating with others on an encrypted messaging application about his support for the IS in or about November last year when, among other things, Khan distributed IS propaganda videos and literature.

“If we succeed with our plan, this would be the largest attack on US soil since 9/11,” he said in one of the messages.

Khan began communicating with two undercover law enforcement officers, the statement said, adding, during those conversations, Khan confirmed that he and a US-based IS supporter, identified only as Associate-1 in the complaint, had been planning to carry out an attack in a particular US city, identified as ‘City-1.’ Among other things, Khan said that he had been actively attempting to create “a real offline cell” of IS supporters to carry out a “coordinated assault” in the city using AR-style rifles to “target Israeli Jewish Chabad... scattered all around” (the city).

During subsequent conversations, Khan repeatedly instructed the undercover officers to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials to carry out the attacks and identified the specific locations in the city where the attacks would take place, the complaint said.

Khan also provided details about how he would cross the border from Canada into the US for the attacks.

During these conversations with the undercover officers, Khan emphasised that “October 7 and Oct 11 are the best days for targeting the Jews” stating the community will surely hold some protest demonstrations on the first anniversary and October 11 is ‘Yom Kippur,’ an important Jewish festival.

Around August 20, Khan changed his target location from City-1 to New York City and decided to target a Jewish centre in Brooklyn. In support of his choice, Khan also boasted that “New York is perfect to target Jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population in America” and therefore, “even if we don't attack a[n] Event[,] we could easily rack up a lot of Jews”. 

With PTI Inputs