A 21-year-old Pakistani man identified as Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, aka “Shahzeb Jadoon,” pleaded guilty to attempting to commit ISIS-inspired acts of terrorism at a prominent Jewish centre in Brooklyn, New York. According to the US Justice Department, Khan planned to carry out a mass shooting with automatic weapons in the United States, while timing it to coincide with the anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Having pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries, Khan is slated to be sentenced on August 12, 2026. The charge he is facing carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.

“Khan declared that New York City was the ‘perfect’ venue for his attack because of its large Jewish population and boasted that his plot could be the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg, according to a US Justice Department press release. “The National Security Division will work tirelessly to ensure that terrorists like Khan face the full weight of American law.”

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His terror plot was ultimately foiled as he ended up being in contact with people who, in reality, were undercover officers.

Who is Muhammad Khan?

Khan is a Pakistani national residing in Canada, who began posting on social media and communicating his support for the militant group, the Islamic State (ISIS), in or about November 2023, according to US authorities. The FBI disclosed that he had planned to illegally enter the United States and conduct an ISIS-inspired attack on the Jewish community around the one-year mark of Hamas’ attacks in Israel.

The 21-year-old Pakistani citizen, who acknowledged his involvement in the near-fatal plot publicly for the first time on Wednesday, was a former Ontario student. According to Canadian outlet CBC News, he applied for a Canadian study permit in March 2023, which was approved the following month. Thereafter, he came to Ontario in June 2023.

To execute his plan, the Pakistani national tried to reach the US-Canada border with the help of a human smuggler on September 4, 2024. After travelling from the vicinity of Toronto, he was stopped and arrested in or around Ormstown, Canada, which is approximately 12 miles from the US-Canada border.

The Pakistani man was extradited to the US in June 2025. His social media activity aided the FBI in his undoing. Less than four months after Khan landed at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport, an FBI informant took note of the same.

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All we know about Muhammad Shahzeb Khan’s Brooklyn terror plot

Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. of the FBI New York Field Office said that Khan had hoped his terror plot in New York would be “the largest terrorist attack on US soil since 9/11.” However, he was ultimately intercepted 12 miles from the US northern border, averting his plans to inflict significant casualties and fear.

As alleged in the public filings related to the case, Khan is believed to have communicated with two people who, unbeknownst to him, were undercover officers. He then divulged to them that he had joined forces with a US-based associate to carry out a terrorist attack in a US city using AR-style assault rifles and target “Israeli Jewish chabads… scattered all around” the city.

According to the details disclosed by the US Justice Department, the Pakistani man repeatedly urged the undercover officers to help him get an AR-style assault rifle and materials needed to carry out the attacks. On top of that, Khan is said to have told the officers that he had discovered a human smuggler who would help him cross the border from Canada into the US to execute the attack.

Although he had initially planned to target a particular American city, Muhammad Khan changed the target location to New York City in August 2024. “New York is perfect to target jews” because it has the “largest Jewish population in America,” he told the undercover officers.