FBI Disables Alleged Terrorist Plan for US Elections

He FBI arrested a man from Afghanistan who allegedly planned to carry out a terrorist attack for US election day the US Department of Justice said.

According to what the organization reports, the subject intended to carry out his plan in the name of the Islamic State.

This incident comes at a time when authorities have been warning for several months of an increase in threats from extremist individuals or groups.

“The threat of terrorism has increased throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has elevated the threat of an attack on Americans in the United States to a whole new level. » FBI Director Christopher Wray detailed this information before the US Congress in October last year.

The man, who was identified as Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi is 27 years old and was a resident of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma at the time of his arrest.

According to the criminal complaint, the Ministry of Justice Revealed Tuesday, the suspect and another conspirator who has not been identified were ISIS supporters and took several steps to carry out the violent plan on American soil: They purchased AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, and attempted to sell the family home and resettle their relatives abroad.

“This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack on Election Day here in our country,” the FBI director said in a statement.

Tawhedi arrived in the United States in September 2021, two days after American troops left Afghanistan, the network described. CBS News .

After arriving, he applied for SIV, a program that grants permanent residency to people who have assisted the U.S. government overseas. Although he was initially approved, he was not granted permanent residency. It is believed that this request may be rejected due to the arrest and charges against him.

Although the complaint does not state exactly how Tawhedi began to be on the FBI’s radar, a series of evidence has come to light that reveals his participation in what he planned to do on November 5.

One of them is a record from July 20 where Tawhedi appears to read to two children “a text which describes the rewards that a martyr receives in the afterlife”. .

For several months, the suspect accessed and shared ISIS propaganda on their platforms specifically, in your iCloud and Google accounts. He was part of Telegram groups supporting ISIS, and in March contributed $540 in cryptocurrency to a Syrian charity that “represents and funnels money to ISIS.”

According to CBS News, Tawhedi also monitored surveillance cameras in Washington DC and analyzed webcams facing the White House and the Washington Monument . Investigators believe the suspect was looking for cities with weaker gun laws.

The criminal complaint describes that when Tawhedi decided to dispose of family possessions before the attack, he and his accomplice put several items up for sale on Facebook. This is where the FBI asked a confidential source to begin interacting with the subjects.

That source showed interest in the computers Tawhedi was selling and said he wanted to buy them as part of an arms deal he had just started, prosecutors said.

Since August, Tawhedi had been in contact with a pro-IS recruiter on Telegram, to whom he told he was looking for guns and ammunition. A month later, he told her that he had managed to find “a person who devotes himself to weapons” referring to the confidential FBI source.

On October 7, Tawhedi and his accomplice met with undercover FBI agents in a rural area of ​​Oklahoma. They acquired two AK-47 assault rifles, ten magazines and 500 rounds of ammunition.

Once the weapons were received, Tawhedi was arrested. Although his accomplice was also arrested at that time, the Ministry of Justice did not reveal his identity because he is a minor, but it is known that he is the brother-in-law of the Afghan citizen.

Tawhedi was accused of conspire, attempt to provide material support to ISIS which can result in a prison sentence of 20 years. He is also accused of receive firearms for the purpose of committing a federal felony or terrorist offense .

After the subject’s arrest, authorities discovered messages indicating his terrorist attack was planned for U.S. Election Day.

In an interview he gave after his arrest, Tawhedi reportedly confirmed that he had acquired the weapons necessary to carry out the election day attack and target the crowds. after which he hoped that he and his accomplice would die “as martyrs”.

Attorney General Merrick B. Garland clarified that they will continue to “fight the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to the national security of the United States, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals who seek to terrorize the American people.”

While the FBI director stressed that he was “proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and foiled the plot before anyone was harmed” and that “terrorism remains the agency’s number one priority” .