WASHINGTON — The Department of Justice on Tuesday extradited an ISIS supporter living in Canada who had been caught planning a mass shooting attack on a Jewish center in New York that would have coincided with the first anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, tried to travel from Canada to New York City on Sept. 4 in preparation to carry out the horrific attack on New York Jews – but was caught just short of the US border, according to the Department of Justice.
Khan, also known as “Shahzeb Jadoon,” was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS.
A plane carrying Khan, originally of Pakistan, touched down in the US on Tuesday afternoon, one day ahead of his scheduled first appearance on the charges before a US court.
“He planned to use automatic weapons to kill as many members of our Jewish community as possible, all in support of ISIS,” US Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement Tuesday. “Khan’s deadly, antisemitic plan was thwarted by the diligent work of our law enforcement partners and the career prosecutors in this Office who are committed to rooting out antisemitism and stopping terror.”
“Thanks to their efforts, Khan will now face justice in New York.”
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Khan’s case serves as a reminder that ISIS is still attempting to target Americans.
“The foreign terrorist organization ISIS remains a clear and present danger to the American people, and our Jewish citizens are especially targeted by evil groups like these,” Bondi said.
“The Department of Justice is proud to help secure this extradition, and we will prosecute this man to the fullest extent of the law.”
Khan began sharing ISIS propaganda videos and expressing his support for the terror group in social media posts in 2023, according to the federal complaint.
Khan was caught after he told undercover FBI agents that he and another ISIS supporter based in the US were plotting attacks on Jewish centers in America and were seeking assault rifles and other materials to make them happen, the Justice Department said.
“During subsequent conversations, Khan repeatedly instructed the [undercover agents] to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials to carry out the attacks, and identified locations … where the attacks would take place,” the DOJ wrote in a summary of the crime.
“Khan also told the [agents] that he had identified a human smuggler who would help him cross the border from Canada into the United States for the attack.”
Khan also said in the messages that “Oct 7th and oct 11th are the best days for targeting the jews” because “Oct 7 they will surely have some protests and oct 11 is yom kippur,” according to the complaint.
“New york is perfect to target jews,” he wrote, because it has the “largest Jewish population In america” and therefore, “even if we dont attack a[n] Event[,] we could rack up easily a lot of jews.”
“We are going to nyc to slaughter them,” he said, sending along a photo of a targeted location, which has not been disclosed.
Using three separate vehicles, Khan began driving to the US but was stopped around Ormstown, a town in the Canadian province of Quebec that is about 12 miles from the US border, federal authorities said.
If convicted, Khan faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
The case is being handled by the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office.
