“I am proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed. Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people.”
The Afghan man arrested Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegedly concocting an Election Day terrorist plot was allowed into the United States as a special immigrant following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in September 2021.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, entered the US with a special visa during the Biden-Harris administration’s chaotic and botched American withdrawal from Afghanistan that saw 13 US service personnel killed and billions of dollars in military hardware left for the Taliban’s disposal.
The FBI has charged Tawhedi with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group. He allegedly confessed to the FBI that he and a juvenile co-conspirator were planning an Election Day terrorist attack on large crowds and both were anticipating Islamic martyrs deaths. Tawhedi had reportedly wrapped up his affairs, liquidated his assets and bought a one-way ticket for his wife and child to fly back to Afghanistan Tawhedi could be sentenced to 35 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
“As charged, the Justice Department foiled the defendant’s plot to acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS on U.S. soil on Election Day,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a news release from the Department of Justice. “We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute the individuals who seek to terrorize the American people. I am deeply grateful to the public servants of the FBI, National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma for their work to disrupt this attack and for the work they do every day to protect our country.”
“This defendant, motivated by ISIS, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on Election Day, here on our homeland," said FBI Director Christopher Wray. "I am proud of the men and women of the FBI who uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed. Terrorism is still the FBI's number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people."
On Oct. 7, FBI assets allegedly caught Tawhedi and the juvenile at a rural location in the Western District of Oklahoma, where they had “purchased, received, and took possession of two AK-47 assault rifles, ten magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition,” the DOJ news release explained. “Upon receipt of the rifles and ammunition, Tawhedi and the juvenile were arrested.”
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