A Pakistani man residing in Canada, who plotted a mass shooting on the Jewish community in New York, was extradited to the United States where he will face terrorism charges.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was arrested on September 4, 2024, by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the FBI at Ormstown, Canada, while attempting to cross the US-Canada border with the help of a smuggler.
Khan, an ISIS sympathiser, had planned to carry out an October 7-like attack on the Jewish community in New York on October 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel, according to authorities. He planned to commit the mass shooting with the help of an associate, named Associate-1 in an unnamed city.
The 20-year-old Pakistani landed in Toronto on June 23, 2020, on a study permit. He was in the process of claiming refugee status. But, within five months of staying there, Khan attracted the attention of an FBI informant after they found he exchanged encrypted messages on social media sharing his support for ISIS and distributed their propaganda.
Khan was then approached by two undercover law enforcement officers posing as accomplices. He shared his plans with them, even asking them to obtain automatic rifles and other ammunition and to carry out the massacre if he was detained.
He claimed he chose to commit the attack in New York due to its high Jewish population and the presence of Jewish religious locations. He had allegedly said that if he succeeded, it would be "the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11."
Khan is now awaiting trial in the US. Attorney General Pamela Bondi has said that Khan would be prosecuted to the "fullest extent of the law."
FBI director Kash Patel took to X to update how Khan's case was a "reminder of the constant threat of terrorism facing every corner of the world — as well as the disturbing rise in threats against our Jewish communities."
"Thankfully, the great work of FBI teams and our partners exposed those plans and shut them down — and Khan was arrested by Canadian authorities on September 4, 2024. He has now arrived in the U.S. and will face American justice," he added.