Afghan man arrested for plotting U.S. election day attack

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) -- An Afghan man has been arrested for allegedly plotting to carry out an attack on US election day on behalf of the Islamic State (IS) group, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, was arrested on Monday in the western US state of Oklahoma and has been charged with attempting to provide material support to IS.

“The Justice Department foiled the defendant’s plot to acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of (IS) on US soil on Election Day,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

US voters go to the polls on 5 November.

The Justice Department said Tawhedi was arrested after he “allegedly took steps to liquidate his family’s assets, resettle members of his family overseas, acquire AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, and commit a terrorist attack in the United States.”

It said he conspired to carry out the attack with another Afghan national, a juvenile who was not named but was identified in court documents as his brother-in-law.

According to the criminal complaint, Tawhedi entered the US on 9 September 2021 on a special immigrant visa.

It said a Federal Bureau of Investigation (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.

They were immediately arrested.