Oct. 9 (UPI) — Afghanistan citizen and Oklahoma resident Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi planned to use semi-automatic firearms to commit a “violent terrorist act” on election day, the Department of Justice said Tuesday.
“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,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release.
“We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security,” Garland added.
The Department of Justice in the U.S. District Court for Western Oklahoma on Tuesday charged Tawhedi, 27, with two felonies for providing, attempting to provide and conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Federal prosecutors said Tawhedi knowingly received, conspired to receive and attempted to receive firearms and ammunition to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.
FBI special agent Nathan Wilkins said Tawhedi, aka Abu Omir, conspired with members of the Islamic State to carry out a terrorist act on Nov. 5 by using two AK-47 rifles.
“Tawhedi and co-conspirators are adherents of ISIS ideology and motivated by propaganda generated by or in support of ISIS,” Wilkins said in a supporting affidavit.
He said Tawhedi and co-conspirators “planned and took steps to raise funds by selling the family home and their personal property” and “planned and took steps to repatriate immediate family members to Afghanistan on or about Oct. 17.”
Tawhedi and his co-conspirators “planned and took steps to purchase firearms and ammunition” and “their ultimate aim was to stage a violent attack in the United States in the name of and on behalf of ISIS, which was planned for election day,” Wilkins says.
The Department of Justice said Tawhedi entered the United States on Sept. 9, 2021, on a special immigrant visa and legally remained while his parole status was pending.
Tawhedi, his wife and their 1-year-old child live in an apartment in Oklahoma City, Wilkins said.
The Department of Justice said a juvenile, identified as “co-conspirator 1,” also is a citizen of Afghanistan and earlier obtained legal permanent resident status in the United States.
The unnamed and alleged co-conspirator lives with his father, mother and five siblings in a single-family home in Moore, Okla., and entered the United States on March 27, 2018, with a special immigrant visa.
The co-conspirator’s 24-year-old sister is married to Tawhedi, and her family’s home and household goods were listed with a pending sale arranged on Oct. 15 for $185,000.
Federal prosecutors said Tawhedi used the Telegram messaging smartphone application to communicate with ISIS militants and his co-conspirator and said he obtained two AK-47 rifles for $1,200 each and ordered 500 rounds of ammunition.
Tawhedi met the rifles’ seller when he arrived at the family home and bought a computer and television. The buyer allegedly told Tawhedi he has a “weapon sales business” and a place where Tawhedi and his family could hunt and shoot at targets.
Federal prosecutors allege Tawhedi used his Google account to search for information on how to access cameras in Washington, D.C., and visit webcams at the White House and Washington Monument.
The FBI sent a confidential informant to Tawhedi’s in-laws’ home after the family’s belongings were listed for sale.
The informant is the same person Tawhedi said owns a gun business and who sold the AK-47s after he bought a HP Chromebook, a personal computer and a chair from Tawhedi’s family on Sept. 6.
