A Pakistani nationwide from Ontario who was arrested in Quebec for allegedly plotting to kill Jews in New York City returns to court docket Friday.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, who has been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 4 in Ormstown, Que., is being sought by authorities in the US to face trial.
U.S. officers charged Khan with one depend of trying to supply materials help and sources to a terrorist group, and Canada has agreed to have him extradited.
A date for an extradition listening to is anticipated to be set immediately in Montreal in Quebec Superior Courtroom.
U.S. and Canadian authorities allege Khan was on his strategy to perform a mass capturing in help of the Islamic State at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn round Oct. 7 to mark the one-year anniversary of the Hamas assault on Israel.
Throughout a listening to in December, a Quebec decide mentioned the case wanted to be handled rapidly.
Khan, 20, was beforehand held in Rimouski, Que., lots of of kilometres from Montreal, however his lawyer requested that he be transferred to the Montreal area as a result of it was troublesome to speak remotely along with his shopper, who doesn’t communicate French.
Earlier than his arrest, Khan was residing in Mississauga, Ont., based on court docket paperwork, and federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller has mentioned the accused arrived in Canada in June 2023 on a pupil visa granted in Might of that 12 months.
Get breaking Nationwide information
For information impacting Canada and around the globe, join breaking information alerts delivered on to you once they occur.
In keeping with paperwork filed by the U.S. prosecutor summarizing the case towards Khan, the FBI grew to become conscious of Khan after a paid informant noticed his pro-Islamic State musings on Fb in October 2023. On Oct. 8 of that 12 months, a publish from a “Shahzeb Jadoon” quoted a Saudi jihad proponent, and later that month the identical person posted a photograph of a disassembled weapon and known as for unity amongst Muslims.
Following a publish in November 2023, the informant began chatting with Jadoon, who mentioned he was a Pakistani nationwide residing in Canada.
They moved their on-line conversations to an encrypted platform — unnamed within the U.S. court docket paperwork — after Khan expressed considerations about being recognized by the FBI. He allegedly despatched the informant quite a lot of Islamic State movies and a PDF e book with an in depth historical past of the phobia group.
“This e-book is soo useful,” Khan allegedly wrote. “Studying the e-book is giving me (an) adrenalin rush.”
Khan was unaware his discussions with the informant on the encrypted community had been being documented and beneath the course of the FBI.
Authorities later recognized the particular person answerable for the account as Khan and, on March 21, 2024, offered the RCMP with Ontario IP addresses, social media accounts and a Pakistani cellphone quantity, all tied to the suspect. In August, the RCMP instructed U.S. authorities that they had recognized Khan and opened a legal investigation into him.
U.S. officers discovered that Khan had been collaborating in a pro-Islamic State group chat that mentioned how one can perform co-ordinated assaults in the US, Pakistan and India, amongst different areas. Two undercover officers had been a part of that chat, posing as fellow travellers.
In July 2024, Khan allegedly began to debate creating “an actual off-line cell” of Islamic State supporters and instructed an secret agent he “had already begun plans to hold out an assault” towards “Zionist Jews.” Over the next days, he started to elaborate his plan to hold out a mass capturing utilizing AR-style rifles.
After the RCMP disrupted a father and son’s alleged Islamic State-inspired homicide plot in Toronto, Khan allegedly instructed chat group members they wanted to “lay low, no social media” and that the cell “must be small and well-armed.”
Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, and his son, Mostafa Eldidi, 26, had been arrested in Richmond Hill, Ont., on July 28, 2024, and face 9 terrorism expenses, together with conspiracy to commit homicide on behalf of the phobia group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
However after the 2 arrests, Khan continued along with his plan, and was recorded encouraging folks within the chat group to acquire AR-style rifles, ammunition, magazines, holsters, boots and different supplies wanted for “kits.”
By mid-August, Khan instructed the agent that he was readying to vacate his condominium and start his journey to the U.S., having organized journey with a human smuggler. On Aug. 21 he determined that New York Metropolis, with its giant Jewish inhabitants, could be his goal.
“Brothers … we’re going to NYC to slaughter them,” Khan allegedly wrote.
Khan acquired in a car in Toronto at about 5:40 a.m. on Sept. 4 and switched vehicles in Napanee, Ont., and Montreal earlier than he was arrested at about 2:45 p.m. in Ormstown.
Khan’s lawyer in Canada has mentioned the case towards his shopper quantities to entrapment.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
Source link