An Afghan citizen living in Oklahoma has been charged with plotting to carry out an Isis-inspired terrorist attack on the day of the US election.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi allegedly planned to open fire on crowds to disrupt voting on November 5, according to the justice department. Merrick Garland, the US attorney-general, said that Tawhedi and an unnamed juvenile co-conspirator planned to die as martyrs.
After being arrested on Monday, Tawhedi, 27, was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to Isis and receiving a firearm to be used to commit a terrorist act.
As part of the alleged plot he had recently purchased two AK-47 rifles, liquidated his family’s assets and bought one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan, the justice department said. After his arrest, he allegedly admitted to investigators that he planned to attack “large gatherings of people” on election day.
Tawhedi entered the US in 2021 on a special immigrant visa and is on parole status pending the adjudication of his immigration proceedings. He made a first appearance in a federal court in Oklahoma on Tuesday.
“This defendant, motivated by Isis, allegedly conspired to commit a violent attack, on election day, here on our homeland,” Christopher Wray, the FBI director, said. “Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people.”
The FBI said it had seized Tawhedi’s phone and found his communications with an Isis-affiliated recruiter and trainer, and found terrorist propaganda on his iCloud and Google account. The agency added that he had contributed money to an unnamed charity which funnels money to Isis, a designated foreign terrorist organisation under US federal law.