Canadian resident accused of plot to shoot New York Jewish centre extradited to U.S.
OTTAWA — The U.S. Justice Department says a Pakistani citizen who was living in Canada has been extradited to New York, where he's accused of plotting to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish centre.
Article content
The RCMP arrested Muhammad Shahzeb Khan in Quebec last September.
Article content
The Mounties said at the time he was in the process of planning a deadly attack targeting Jewish people in the U.S. and was facing charges in Canada.
Article content
He is now charged in the U.S. with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and attempting to commit terrorism that transcends national boundaries.
Article content
Article content
The 20-year-old is set to appear in a New York court on Wednesday.
Article content
The U.S. Justice Department says Khan was planning an 'ISIS-inspired mass shooting' around the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2024.
Article content
Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement that Khan planned to 'use automatic weapons to kill as many members of our Jewish community as possible, all in support of ISIS.'
The statement said Khan started posting on social media and communicating with people on encrypted messaging apps about his support for ISIS around November 2023.
Article content
After he shared ISIS propaganda online, he started communicating with undercover law enforcement officers. He told them he and an American associate, who is not named in the statement, were planning an attack.
Article content
Article content
The Justice Department statement said Khan told the undercover officers to buy AR-style assault rifles, ammunition and other materials, and he gave them details about how he planned to cross the border.
Article content
Article content
Last August, he changed his planned target and told the undercover officers he had decided to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn on or around Oct. 7, 2024.
Article content
'During one communication, Khan noted that 'if we succeed with our plan this would be the largest attack on U.S. soil since 9/11,'' the statement said.
Article content
Khan tried to reach the U.S. border on Sept. 4, 2024. The Justice Department said he used three separate cars to travel through Canada toward the border and was stopped by Canadian authorities near Ormstown, Que., about 20 km from the border.
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
23 minutes ago
- CBC
Weight of traditional knowledge discussed at public hearing for Diavik's water licence
A handful of Indigenous governments want to see more criteria enshrined in the conditions of Diavik diamond mine's new water licence, to determine that water will be safe for cultural uses. The Wek'èezhìi Land and Water Board (WLWB) is holding a public hearing about the company's application for a 10-year water licence renewal, at the cultural centre in Behchokǫ, N.W.T.,̀ this week. The Tłı̨chǫ government, the Yellowknives Dene First Nation, the Łutsel K'e Dene First Nation and the Deninu Kųę́ First Nation are all participating in the hearing, along with representatives of the federal and territorial governments and an environmental monitoring board. Violet Camsell-Blondin, who presented Wednesday morning on behalf of the Tłı̨chǫ government, told the hearing that both Western science and Indigenous traditional knowledge should be used to assess the water of Lac de Gras, the tundra lake in which Diavik operates, about 300 kilometres northeast of Yellowknife. "Cultural use criteria should not have a lower status or less clout in measuring successful closure and influencing the return of security deposits," she said. The WLWB has already required Diavik to incorporate traditional knowledge and cultural use criteria in its plans – but the Tłı̨chǫ, the Łutsel K'e Dene and the Yellowknives Dene want it to have the same weight as scientific monitoring and for it to be tied to the return of security deposits. What are cultural use criteria? An amendment to Diavik's current water licence required that cultural use criteria be developed for dumping processed kimberlite back into the open pits which will eventually, as part of closure, be filled with water and reconnected to Lac de Gras. A letter from the Tłı̨chǫ government to the board during that amendment process a few years ago describes cultural use criteria as the clarity, temperature, colour, smell and taste of the water, as well as whatever unnatural material might be in it. Diavik held workshops with Indigenous partners to establish that criteria and summarized in a report afterwards that healthy water would look clear, feel cold, smell clean, taste fresh and sound alive. "A lot of times science will say the water is good, you could drink it, but they won't drink it," said Patrick Simon, a Deninu Kųę́ First Nation councillor participating in the hearing, adding that scientists also use numbers that are hard to understand to communicate that water is safe. "If I told you, as an Indigenous person, the water is good, you can drink it, I will not only drink it but I'll show you the freshness of the water and the vibrancy, the clarity and even the feeling …. When we're around bad water it don't feel good. When we're around good healthy water, we feel alive, we feel connected. It's part of us." Simon said cultural use criteria will help Indigenous people decide whether they want to drink the water and harvest the animals in and around Lac de Gras once Diavik has closed. 'Flexibility should be maintained,' Diavik says A decision for the WLWB to make, once the hearing is over, is whether traditional knowledge and more cultural use criteria should be enshrined in the conditions of the licence – or whether those will be discussed further as part of the mine's closure plan. Diavik has expressed preference for the latter, stating in its presentation this week that it "strongly recommends that flexibility should be maintained" by discussing cultural use criteria through the final closure and reclamation plan and not establishing "fixed" licence conditions. Diavik is already in the process of creating a traditional knowledge monitoring program with its Indigenous partners that'll be submitted to the land and water board for approval. "Adding licence conditions might restrict the program that's in development. [The program] that really, at the end of the day, communities are developing for us," said Sean Sinclair, Diavik's manager of closure. "Potentially putting that in a box through licence conditions … we don't think it would necessarily be helpful and that it could be more flexibly managed through the closure plan." In a letter to the board ahead of the hearing, Diavik also said that there's uncertainty about how cultural use criteria would be evaluated for regulatory compliance. Diavik is trying to set itself apart from a history of abandoned mines in the N.W.T by closing responsibly. Its existing water licence expires at the end of the year, and it needs another one to wrap up production in March 2026, carry out closure, and start initial post-closure monitoring up until 2035. The hearing wraps up in Behchokǫ̀ on Wednesday.
CTV News
30 minutes ago
- CTV News
Organized crime targeted by police operation in Quebec
An SPVM police shoulder patch is seen on an officer in Montreal, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi) Several arrests are expected as the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and Montreal police (SPVM) investigate organized crime in the province on Thursday morning. About 150 officers are involved in a large-scale operation in the cities of Montreal, Laval, Blainville, Shefford, Saint-Lazare, Repentigny, Quebec City and Rosemère. An update by the two forces is expected later in the day. It's the latest in a string of police operations fighting against organized crime in the province. READ MORE: 7 arrested after early morning police operation targets Italian Mafia Earlier this month, police arrested 13 people in connection with a wave of extortion attempts at Montreal restaurants. Last month, officers targeted the Blood Family Mafia in Lévis and Sainte-Claire near Quebec City. In April, seven people were arrested after a police operation focused on the Italian Mafia.
CTV News
30 minutes ago
- CTV News
Alleged butter thief nabbed yellow-handed
Butter is seen on the shelves of a grocery store in Montreal, Monday, Nov. 25, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi A man who allegedly stole $600 worth of butter from an Orangeville store is behind bars. Provincial police were summoned when a man recognized as the person who had fled with $600 dollars worth of butter on May 28, returned to the scene of the creamy crime on June 5. The store's security personnel recognized the butter connoisseur from his previous visit and held him until police arrived. A 31-year-old Brampton man has been charged with theft under $5,000. He is scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Orangeville
