Pakistani extradited in ISIS terror scheme to ‘slaughter’ Jews in NYC

U.S. authorities said they extradited a Pakistani man from Canada on Tuesday after foiling an ISIS-inspired terrorism plot last year that involved the suspect traveling to New York City so he could “slaughter” Jews around the anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israel.

The Justice Department said Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was pulled down from Canada, where he lives, and is set to face a judge Wednesday on charges of attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

The DOJ said undercover FBI agents communicated with Mr. Khan, 20, prior to his trip to the U.S. and determined he was trying to create a “real offline cell” of ISIS supporters. The suspect instructed the agents to gather weapons for the terror scheme that he said would be “the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11” if it succeeded, according to prosecutors.

“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,” said FBI Director Kash Patel, referring to the Oct. 7, 2023, raid. “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.”

Federal prosecutors said the undercover agents made contact with Mr. Khan soon after he began posting online about his support for ISIS in November 2023. Mr. Khan shared with the agents that he and a U.S.-based ISIS supporter planned on launching a “coordinated assault” on Jewish orthodox movements “scattered all around” a different American city.

Authorities said the suspect discussed hoarding AR-style rifles and ammunition for the attack, locations in the city to target and his travel plans to make it across the U.S.-Canada border.

Mr. Khan also pointed out that “Oct 7th and oct 11th are the best days for targeting the jews,” according to prosecutors, because “oct 7 they will surely have some protests and oct 11 is yom.kippur.”

Last August, officials said Mr. Khan decided to target a Jewish center in Brooklyn on Oct. 7, 2024 — a year after Hamas’ raid that killed more than 1,200 civilians in southern Israel and took 250 people hostage. According to prosecutors, Mr. Khan said “New york is perfect to target jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population In america.”

Mr. Khan also stated that “we are going to nyc to slaughter them” and told the undercover agents to get “some good hunting [knives] so we can slit their throats.”

The suspect shared rental properties he had scoped out near the Jewish center and that he was paying a human smuggler to help him reach and cross the U.S.-Canada border, authorities said.

Canadian police arrested Mr. Khan on Sept. 4, 2024, about 12 miles from the border. If convicted of both terrorism charges, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.