On Wednesday (local time), 21-year-old Pakistani national Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, entered a guilty plea to attempting to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, New York. Khan, a 21-year-old Pakistani national residing in Canada on a study permit, admitted to organising what he hoped would be the deadliest attack on American territory since 9/11, according to a press release from the Justice Department.
Who Is Muhammad Shahzeb Khan? 21-Year-Old Pakistani National Pleads Guilty To Attempted Mass Shooting At NYC Jewish Centre
‘Khan boasted that his plan might be the biggest attack on American territory since 9/11 and said that New York City’s enormous Jewish population made it the ‘ideal’ location for his attack. The release also cited Eisenberg as saying, “The National Security Division will work tirelessly to ensure that terrorists like Khan face the full weight of American law.” According to the Department of Justice, Khan, a Pakistani national living in Canada, started conversing with individuals and posting on social media about his support for ISIS in November 2023. He also distributed ISIS propaganda materials and videos.
Khan subsequently began planning terrorist attacks in the US in support of ISIS, including by communicating his plans with two individuals who, unbeknownst to Khan, were undercover officers (the UCs). Khan told the officers that he, alongwith his associate, was planning to carry out an attack targeting Jews in the city. He also asked the officers to obtain AR-style assault rifles, ammunition, and other materials to carry out the attacks, and identified locations in a city where the attacks would take place. He also told the officers that he knew a smuggler who would help him cross the border to the US, as stated in the statement.
Khan informed the UCs that the target location would now be a well known Jewish religious facility in Brooklyn, New York, in or around August 2024. “If we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11,” Khan said in the statement. According to the Department of Justice, the maximum punishment for the offence is life in prison.
(With Inputs From ANI)
