FBI Director Kash Patel broke major news via social media about a Pakistani man living in Canada, who has now been extradited to the United States over attempts to launch an alleged terror plot.
The individual named Muhammad Shahzeb Khan has been charged with “attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to commit acts of terrorism,” according to Patel’s post on X. As per the US Justice Department’s press release dated June 10 (America time), the Pakistani citizen allegedly had plans to come into the US and carry out a mass shotting with automatic weapons at a New York Jewish centre. With the case still pending before US District Judge Pal G Gardephe, he is slated to make his initial court appearance on June 11, 2025, before Chief Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.
FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G Raia said that Khan’s extradition to the US has been facilitated so that he could face justice for “his barbaric plot to conduct a mass shooting in New York City.” As of now, the accused has been identified as a supporter of ISIS, who is believed to have been fuelled by antisemitism. NYPD Commissioner Jessica S Tisch also noted that his alleged terror attack plot “could have slaughtered Jewish New Yorkers simply because of their faith.”
Who is Muhammad Shahzeb Khan?
Charging documents and other public filings, as underlined in the DOJ press release, alleged that Khan, a 20-year-old Pakistani national residing in Canada, started expressing his pro-ISIS stance in social media posts and communications with others on an encrypted messaging app in or about November 2023. He has even been accused of spreading the UN-designated terrorist organisation’s propaganda videos and literature.
He eventually came into contact with two undercover law enforcement officers, with whom he opened up about his plans to carry out terrorist attacks in the US as an expression of his support for the terror group. In these exchanges, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan confirmed he had colluded with a US-based associated, referred to as “Associate-1,” while laying out plan to launch a terrorist attack in a particular American city. He is said to have wanted to use AR-style assault rifles to “target… Israeli Jewish chabads… scattered all around [City-1].”
Major news… earlier this afternoon, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a Pakistani citizen residing in Canada, was extradited to the United States on charges of attempting to provide material support to ISIS and attempting to commit acts of terrorism.
— FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) June 10, 2025
In the fall of last year, Khan…
Khan hoped to obtain the said AR-style rifle and other things needed for the alleged attacks through the undercover officers he is said to have been in touch with. Moreover, he also told them that he had found a human smuggler who would eventually assist him in crossing the border from Canada to the US so that the alleged attack could go into action-mode.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan sought to carry out terror attack on Oct 7, 2024
TUS Justice Department further revealed that Khan ultimately set New York City as his target in August 2024. Conveying the same to the undercover law enforcement officials, he alerted them of his plans to target a prominent Jewish center in Brooklyn. He particularly picked New York as his target location owing to its “largest Jewish population in America.” He had his eyes set on October 7, 2024, as the date of the purported attack – which he viewed as the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel.
During one of their alleged interactions, Khan said, “if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest Attack on US soil since 9/11.”
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan’s illegal travel from Canada to the US
The DOJ documents detailed that Khan tried to come into the US through the US-Canada border with the help of a human smuggler on September 4, 2024. Travelling from the vicinity of Toronto towards America, he was ultimately stopped around Ormstown, Canada, a location 12 approximately 12 miles from the border.
Charges against Khan
As per the Justice Department, the Pakistani man has been charged with “one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organisation… and one count of attempting to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.”
While the former has a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, the latter carries a max sentence of life in prison.
“Thankfully, the great work of FBI teams and our partners exposed those plans and shut them down — and Khan was arrested by Canadian authorities on September 4, 2024,” Kash Patel added in his X post. “This case is a reminder of the constant threat of terrorism facing every corner of the world — as well as the disturbing rise in threats against our Jewish communities.”
National Security and International Narcotics Unit is leading the investigation. Although Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaylan E. Lasky and David J. Robles are heading the prosecution, Trial Attorney Kevin Nunnally of the Counterterrorism Section is assisting them.