NEW YORK (AP) — A Pakistani man was arrested in Canada this week for plotting a mass capturing at a Jewish middle in Brooklyn on the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 assault by Hamas that sparked the most recent battle within the Center East, federal authorities introduced Friday.
U.S. Lawyer Common Merrick Garland mentioned Muhammad Shahzeb Khan had tried to journey from Canada, the place he lives, to New York Metropolis with the “stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible.”
The 20 year-old, who’s also referred to as Shahzeb Jadoon, was apprehended on Sept. 4 and charged with making an attempt to offer materials help and assets to the fear group, which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.
“As I said to Canada’s Minister of Public Safety yesterday, we are deeply grateful to our Canadian partners for their critical law enforcement actions in this matter,” Garland mentioned in a press release. “Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack.”
It is unclear if Khan has a lawyer. There isn’t a itemizing for the case within the on-line federal court docket system. Edward Kim, a spokesperson for the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s workplace, which is dealing with the case, declined to answer follow-up questions, together with the place Khan is being held and when can be delivered to the U.S. to face the fees. He deferred to Canadian authorities, who did not instantly reply to emails searching for remark.
U.S. authorities mentioned Khan started sharing ISIS propaganda movies and expressing his help for the fear group in social media posts and communications with others on an encrypted messaging app final November.
In conversations with two undercover legislation enforcement officers, he confirmed that he and one other ISIS supporter primarily based within the U.S. had been planning to hold out assaults towards Jewish facilities in America and wanted to acquire AR-style assault rifles, ammunition and different supplies, in keeping with the Justice Division.
Khan additionally supplied particulars about how he would cross the border from Canada into the U.S. and that he was contemplating conducting the assaults on both the Oct. 7 anniversary or on Oct. 11, which is the Jewish vacation of Yom Kippur, authorities mentioned.
Then on Aug. 20, he informed the undercover officers that he had settled on focusing on New York Metropolis due to its sizeable Jewish inhabitants and despatched {a photograph} of the particular space inside a Jewish middle the place he deliberate to hold out the assault, in keeping with the Justice Division.
Utilizing three separate automobiles, Khan started travelling to the U.S. however was stopped round Ormstown, a city within the Canadian province of Quebec that’s about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the U.S. border, federal authorities mentioned.
