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2 months ago
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An Afghan migrant who planned to carry out an ISIS-inspired Election Day terrorist attack used to work for the CIA, a bombshell report reveals.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, an Afghan national whose arrest was announced earlier this week by the Justice Department, used to work as a security guard for the CIA in Afghanistan, NBC News first reported.
Tawhedi was arrested alongside an unnamed minor, the Justice Department wrote in a press release Tuesday, claiming he 'conspired and attempted to provide material support to ISIS and obtained firearms and ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil in the name of ISIS.'
The Afghan and his accomplice's plot to purchase automatic assault riffles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and several magazines was stopped after authorities broke up the deal.
Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month
Authorities previously announced he liquidated his family's assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.
'Terrorism is still the FBI's number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,' FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Tuesday.
After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.
Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization.
He faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for providing support to ISIS and 15 years for obtaining a firearm to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.
An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely how Tawhedi came onto investigators' radar, but cites what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack.
Afghans Taliban security officials stand guard as they check people and vehicles at a checkpoint, in Kabul, Afghanistan, 13 September 2024
Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State group, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization
A photograph from July included in the affidavit depicts a man investigators identified as Tawhedi reading to two young children, including his daughter, 'a text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife.'
'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 Garland.
'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,' he continued.
'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.'
According to the criminal complaint, Tawhedi entered the United States on September 9, 2021 on a special immigrant visa.
Afghans struggle to reach the foreign forces to show their credentials to flee the country outside the Hamid Karzai International Airport, in Kabul, Afghanistan, 26 August 2021. At least 13 people including children were killed in a blast outside the airport on 26 August. The blast occurred outside the Abbey Gate and follows recent security warnings of attacks ahead of the 31 August deadline for US troops withdrawal
Taliban soldiers celebrate on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul on a street near the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023
Hundreds of people gather near a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane at a perimeter at the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16, 2021. Tawhedi was in the U.S. not a month after this photo was taken
It said an FBI 'confidential human source' contacted Tawhedi after he recently advertised the sale of his family's personal property on Facebook.
The FBI source said he needed a computer for a gun business he was starting and Tawhedi expressed interest in purchasing two AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, according to the complaint.
On Monday, Tawhedi and the juvenile met with 'FBI assets' at a rural location in Oklahoma and purchased two AK-47 assault rifles, 10 magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition, it said.
English (US)