A Pakistani man with ties to Iran was charged in the United States in connection with conspiracy to carry out the assassination of former President Donald Trump. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigators suspect that along with Trump, many current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot, a CNN report said citing an official.
The US Justice Department disclosed the case of murder-for-hire on Tuesday. FBI director Christopher Wray termed the scheme a “dangerous murder-for-hire plot… straight out of the Iranian playbook,” an AP report said. The arrested suspect was identified as 46-year-old Asif Merchant.
As per the justice department’s indictment, Asif arrived in the US from Pakistan after spending some time in Iran.
Asif travelled to New York in June to meet a man whom he believed he was hiring to carry out the killings. He also paid a $5,000 advance to two would-be assassins, who were actually undercover law enforcement officials, an AP report said citing federal officers.
He was arrested last month as he was planning to leave the US. Before leaving, he told the would-be assassins that he would provide further instructions, including the names of the targets, in August and September after he returned to Pakistan.
While the indictment does not mention Donald Trump’s name, CBS cited sources confirming that the Republican nominee was one of the intended targets.
“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,” Christopher Wray was quoted as saying by the BBC in its report.
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