A Pakistani citizen living in Canada was arrested on Wednesday and charged with planning an attack in New York City in support of the militant Islamic State group (IS), the Department of Justice said on Friday.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, is accused of plotting a mass shooting at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn around Oct 7, 2024, nearly one year after Hamas’ attack in Israel.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Shahzeb, who is also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, aimed to kill “as many Jewish people as possible”.
The Department of Justice was not able to confirm if Shahzeb had obtained legal counsel.
Shahzeb attempted to travel from Canada to the United States where he intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out the attack, according to the indictment.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement on Friday they arrested Shahzeb on Wednesday in Ormstown, Quebec, south of Montreal. He is set to appear in court in Montreal on September 13.
Shahzeb told two undercover law enforcement officers of his plans to create “a real offline cell” of IS supporters to carry out an attack, the indictment alleged.
He instructed them to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition and other materials to carry out the attacks, and identified specific locations where the attacks would take place.
Shahzeb targeted New York City because it has “the largest Jewish population in America”, prosecutors said.
“We are deeply grateful to our Canadian partners for their critical law enforcement actions in this matter. Jewish communities — like all communities in this country — should not have to fear that they will be targeted by a hate-fueled terrorist attack,” Garland said in a statement.
Shahzeb faces up to 20 years in prison.
October 7 would be the first anniversary of an attack by Hamas on Israel that left about 1,200 people dead and triggered an Israeli military operation, now in its eleventh month, that has so far killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, thousands of which are children.
Communities across North America have since reported increases in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic attacks.
