A Pakistani man who arrested in Canada last week in connection with planning a shooting massacre at a Jewish centre in New York City's Brooklyn has been allegedly linked to ISIS.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was plotting the mass shooting on October 7, which marks the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel last year. If the plan did not work out, the terrorist plotted to carry out the attack on October 11, when the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur is celebrated, according to the US Justice Department. Khan allegedly said that “if we succeed with our plan, this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11.”
Who is Muhammad Shahzeb Khan?
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, who is aged 20, is also known by the name Shazeb Jadoon. He was arrested in Ormstown, Canada, 19 km from the US border while trying to travel to the New York on September 4.
He attempted to travel to New York with the "stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible," said US Attorney Genral Merrick Garland in a statement. "Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack."
Khan is also charged with trying to supply material support and resources to the terror group. He was found supporting the ISIS on social media posts and sharing terrorist propaganda videos on an encrypted messaging app in November.
This was discovered by two undercover security agents to who he allegedly said his is planning to establish a "real offline cell" of the ISIS in order to carry out attacks against Israeli Jewish chabads in the US. Khan reportedly said that “New York (City) is perfect to target Jews” since it has the largest Jewish population in the US and therefore, “even if we don't attack an event, we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.” Khan proclaimed that “we are going to NYC to slaughter them,” and sent a photograph of the specific area inside of Location-1 where he planned to carry out the attack.
Khan even hinted that he aling with another ISIS sympathiser in the US were trying to get AR-style assault rifles, revealed the US Justice Deparment. He also tried to obtain “some good hunting [knives] so we can slit their throats.” The investigation was carried out by the FBI New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles Field Offices and the Canadian law enforcement.
