Representational image for arrest.
Credit: iStock Image
Washington: The FBI has arrested an Afghan citizen in Oklahoma City on charges of plotting a suicide attack on Election Day, with the intent of inflicting mass casualties on behalf of the Islamic State group, according to a criminal complaint filed on Tuesday.
In preparation for the attack, the complaint said, the man, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, liquidated his family's financial assets to raise cash for the resettlement of his relatives in Kabul and recruited a co-conspirator, his nephew, who was not named because he is under the age of 18.
It is not clear where Tawhedi intended to stage the attack, though investigators said he planned to use two AK-47s. His online history showed that he searched for how to access cameras in Washington on the same day he visited the White House and Washington Monument webcams, according to investigators.
Tawhedi communicated his plans in chilling detail to a man he later identified as a member of the Islamic State, telling him he would obey any order he was given.
"God willing, with the help of God, we will get ready for the election day," he wrote, according to the filing.
Charges against other individuals are possible, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a continuing investigation.
The bureau's agents "uncovered and stopped the plot before anyone was harmed," Christopher A. Wray, the FBI director, said in a statement.
The arrest underscored the continuing threat posed by the Islamic State and would-be attackers inspired by their anti-American messaging, as federal law enforcement officials recalibrate to counter potential acts of terrorism on US soil by other foreign actors, particularly Iran.
Tawhedi is alleged to have bought the two assault rifles, along with 10 magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, from an undercover informant for the FBI. He was arrested on Monday after showing up at a remote ranch in Oklahoma to pick up the weapons, prosecutors said in the filing.
Tawhedi, who entered the country in 2021 on a special visa, was charged in Oklahoma federal court with conspiring and trying to provide material support to the Islamic State, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. He has also been charged with obtaining a firearm to be used to commit terrorism, with a sentence of up to 15 years.
It is not clear whether the person identified as his co-conspirator has been charged. It is also unclear if he is being represented by a defense lawyer.
As part of its investigation, the bureau gained access to Tawhedi's iPhone and other electronic devices. On it, investigators found Islamic State propaganda and a video from July of Tawhedi sitting on the couch snuggling with two children -- reading off a list of rewards that a "martyr" would receive in the afterlife, including a crown of jewels, a place in heaven and marriage to 72 virgins.
Other images recovered included a picture of a suicide vest bristling with explosives, materials praising the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, an image of a headless Statue of Liberty and a guide for sifting out "apostates" from true believers of Islam, according to the complaint.
Tawhedi waived the right to remain silent and responded to investigators' questions after his arrest. During the interview, he said he had intended to practice shooting with the guns, then use them to attack a large group of Americans on Election Day -- and expected to be killed during the attack, according to the filing.
He claimed that none of his family members knew about his plans, and that he intended in the next few weeks to relocate them to Afghanistan, where they could "live according to pure Islam," investigators wrote.
Communications scrubbed from his devices showed that he shared his elaborate plans -- like selling his father-in-law's house for $185,000 and tracking down weapons -- with other people, including a man identified as "Malik," who appeared to exhort him to undertake the attack.
"When do you do the work?" he asked Tawhedi in a Telegram message on September 20.
Tawhedi responded by saying that he had just paid about $3,000 for two rifles and 500 bullets.
"What do you think, brother?" he asked. "Is it enough or should we increase it?"
It is not clear what Malik told him.