The FBI arrested a man from Afghanistan who allegedly planned a Election Day terrorist attack in the United States
Federal prosecutors accused Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi of planning the attack in support of ISIS. He was arrested Monday in Oklahoma City. He made his first appearance in federal court Tuesday, but did not enter a plea, according to court records. He remains in detention.
According to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday, Tawhedi and his unnamed co-conspirators — including a minor who is Tawhedi’s brother-in-law — were supporters of ISIS and took steps to carry out their attack in the United States, including trying to sell their family home, move their families overseas and purchase firearms and ammunition.
“Their ultimate goal was to commit a violent attack in the United States in the name and on behalf of ISIS,” prosecutors wrote.
Tawhedi, 27, traveled to the United States on a special immigrant visa in September 2021, days after the United States withdrew from Afghanistan, and the criminal complaint says he is “currently at large conditional pending the judgment of his immigration proceedings. The United States offers special immigration visas to people who worked in the U.S. armed forces or under a mission leader as a translator or interpreter in Iraq or Afghanistan, according to the State Department .
Electronic records viewed by the FBI show Tawhedi allegedly viewed ISIS propaganda and contributed approximately $540 in cryptocurrency to a charity in Syria “that acts as a front and funnels money to the state Islamic”.
Federal investigators say Tawhedi sought access to surveillance and security cameras in Washington, D.C., and checked webcams showing the White House and Washington Monument in late July. They also believe Tawhedi was looking for places with more lax gun laws.
Federal investigators said they sent a confidential human source, and then an undercover FBI agent, to secretly interact with the men as they sought to sell their homes and other assets on Facebook and buy weapons.
In a September 21 message to a person suspected of being associated with terrorist activities, Tawhedi said he had purchased two Kalashnikov rifles and ordered 500 bullets.
“What do you think, brother? Is it enough or should we increase it,” the Telegram message said.
In subsequent messages, Tawhedi said his father-in-law’s house had been sold for $185,000 and that they would receive the funds by October 15. He also requested help to resettle his family, which included his mother-in-law, his wife, their young daughter and five of his wife’s siblings, in Afghanistan. Tawhedi purchased one-way plane tickets for the family to travel to Kabul on October 17.
“After that, we will begin our duty, God willing, with God’s help, we will prepare for election day,” Tawhedi wrote.
According to the criminal complaint, Tawhedi and his brother-in-law received two AK-47 rifles on Monday, shortly before their arrest.
Tawhedi told investigators in an interview after his arrest that they had purchased the weapons to carry out an election day attack and target large gatherings of people, during which they “expected to be martyred”, says the complaint.
In a statement, FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was “proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland said: “We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute individuals who seek to terrorize the people of the United States. American. »
National security and intelligence officials have been warning for months of a more complex and dangerous threat landscape. Last year, Wray told Congress: “The threat of terrorism has risen throughout 2023, but the ongoing war in the Middle East has elevated the threat of an attack on Americans in the United States. -United on a whole new level. »
An attorney for Tawhedi did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment on the charges.
