A Pakistani national living in Canada who has been charged in connection with a plot to conduct an Islamic State group-inspired terrorist attack at a Jewish center in Brooklyn was extradited Tuesday to the U.S.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, was charged in federal court in the Southern District of New York with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, ISIS, and attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
He is scheduled to make an initial court appearance Wednesday, the Department of Justice said in a news release. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
“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,” Attorney General Pam 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.”
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police arrested Khan on Sept. 4, 2024, based on a criminal complaint filed by the FBI in the Southern District of New York. That day, the DOJ said he planned to reach the U.S. border, using three cars to travel through Canada before he was stopped by Canadian authorities near Ormstown, Quebec, approximately 12 miles from the border.
“Khan allegedly tried to enter the United States to commit an attack on the Jewish community in New York City, planning an ISIS-inspired mass shooting around the one-year anniversary of the attack on Gaza by Hamas,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. “Thankfully, the great work of the FBI and our partners shut that down, and Khan has now been extradited to New York to face American justice.”
Khan intended to use automatic and semi-automatic weapons in the mass shooting at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, the DOJ said. He began posting on social media and communicating with others on an encrypted messaging app about his support for ISIS around November 2023, when, among other things, he distributed ISIS propaganda videos and literature. Khan then began communicating with two undercover officers.
During those conversations, Khan confirmed that he and a U.S.-based ISIS supporter were planning to attack an undisclosed city, with Khan saying that he was actively attempting to create “a real offline cell” of ISIS supporters for a “coordinated assault” using AR-style rifles to “target Israeli Jewish chabads scattered all around [the city].”
During subsequent conversations, Khan repeatedly instructed the undercover officers to obtain AR-style rifles, ammunition, and other materials to conduct the attacks, and identified the specific locations in the city where the attacks would take place. He also provided details about how he would cross the border from Canada into the U.S. to conduct the attacks.
But around Aug. 20, the DOJ said Khan changed his target location to New York. After initially suggesting certain neighborhoods in New York to the undercover officers, Khan decided to target a Jewish center in Brooklyn. He told the undercover officers that he planned the attack for Oct. 7, 2024 — which he recognized as the one-year anniversary of Iranian-backed Hamas’ terrorist attack in southern Israel.
The DOJ said he boasted that “New York is perfect to target Jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population In America” and therefore, “even if we don’t attack an event, we could rack up easily a lot of Jews.” Khan proclaimed that “we are going to NYC to slaughter them,” and sent a photograph of the specific area inside of the center where he planned to conduct the attack.
He even talked about paying a human smuggler to help him reach and cross the border into the U.S. During one communication, the DOJ said Khan noted that “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.”
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