Pakistani National Charged in Murder-for-Hire Plot Against US Official

The Department of Justice building in Washington on March 28, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A Pakistani national has been charged for an alleged terrorist plot to assassinate a government official on U.S. soil.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) reported that law enforcement thwarted the defendant Asif Merchant’s alleged plan before it could be carried out. An indictment against Merchant was filed in federal court on Sept. 10, and he was taken into federal custody.

Merchant spent time in Iran before arriving in the United States, where he contacted a person he thought would kill a government official, prosecutors said. That person then became a confidential source, reporting Merchant’s intent to law enforcement, the DOJ said in a statement issued on Sept. 11.

“The Justice Department will not tolerate Iran’s efforts to target our country’s public officials and endanger our national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the statement. “As these terrorism and murder for hire charges against Asif Merchant demonstrate, we will continue to hold accountable those who would seek to carry out Iran’s lethal plotting against Americans.”

Merchant’s plan involved stealing USB drives and documents from a target’s home, planning a protest, and killing a government official, according to the DOJ statement.

Merchant asked the confidential source to arrange meetings with people whom he could hire to carry out the plan, according to the department.

Presenting different scenarios, he tested the confidential source (CS) on how he would assassinate the official, the DOJ said.

“Merchant stated that the assassination would occur after he left the United States, and he would communicate with the CS from overseas using code words,” the DOJ statement reads. “The CS asked whether Merchant had spoken to the unidentified ‘party’ back home with whom Merchant was working. Merchant responded that he had and that the party back home told him to ‘finalize’ the plan and leave the United States.”

Undercover Agents

The “hit men” with whom the confidential source arranged the meeting for Merchant were undercover law enforcement agents in New York.

Merchant told the undercover agents that he required them to steal documents, orchestrate protests at political rallies, and kill the targeted politician.

The undercover agents would receive instructions on whom to kill between August and September after Merchant left the United States.

Merchant gave an advance payment of $5,000 to the undercover agents in June before arranging a flight to leave the United States in July. He was arrested on July 12 before he could depart.

Merchant now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

“This dangerous murder-for-hire plot was allegedly orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian regime’s playbook,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in the Sept. 11 statement. “A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a serious threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI. Protecting Americans from terrorists remains our highest priority.”

Another Planned Attack

In other recent news, a Pakistani national who resided in Canada was charged with conspiring to carry out a terrorist attack in New York City that would have specifically targeted Jewish people, the DOJ reported in a Sept. 6 statement.

The defendant, 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan, allegedly attempted to provide support to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS).

“The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the Sept. 6 statement. “Thanks to the investigative work of the FBI, and the quick action of our Canadian law enforcement partners, the defendant was taken into custody.”

Khan’s alleged plan was to carry out a mass shooting at the Jewish Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, according to the statement.

He chose this date, the DOJ said, because it will be the first anniversary of Hamas’s terrorist attacks on Israel.

Khan was charged with one count of attempting to support a designated foreign terrorist organization and faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, according to the DOJ.

“The defendant was allegedly determined to kill Jewish people here in the United States, nearly one year after Hamas’s horrific attack on Israel,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in the statement.

The FBI will continue to investigate terrorist threats, he said.

“Fighting terrorism remains the FBI’s top priority,” Wray said.