Federal officials said on Friday a Pakistani citizen in Canada was arrested and charged with providing material support for a terror organization in a plot to attack targets in New York City.
Twenty-year-old Muhammad Shahzeb Khan was arrested in Canada on Sept. 4 and charged with supporting and providing resources to the designated foreign terrorist organization ISIS.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Shahzeb Khan allegedly planned a terror attack on New York that was set to take place around Oct. 7 this year "with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible," according to a statement from the Justice Department.
U.S. authorities worked with Canadian law enforcement partners to make the arrest.
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Federal officials say Shahzeb Khan planned to travel from Canada to New York City where he allegedly intended to "use automatic and semi-automatic weapons to carry out a mass shooting in support of ISIS at a Jewish center in Brooklyn, New York."
Authorities say the man posted messages on social media and communicated with others on encrypted messaging applications about his support for ISIS late last year.
U.S. authorities say Shahzeb Khan distributed ISIS propaganda and literature and communicated with undercover law enforcement officers in his planning. Investigators say he had a U.S.-based ISIS supporter working with him in the planning.
Shahzeb Khan has been charged with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.
