Close X
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
ADVT 
International

Pakistani man charged in elaborate assassination plot against Trump

Darpan News Desk IANS, 06 Aug, 2024 04:03 PM
  • Pakistani man charged in elaborate assassination plot against Trump

New York, Aug 7 (IANS) A Pakistani citizen has been charged in an elaborate plot that reads like a spy thriller to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland, who announced the charges against Asif Merchant on Tuesday, indicated that the target was Trump, but did not name him.

"For years, the Justice Department has been working aggressively to counter Iran's brazen and unrelenting efforts to retaliate against American public officials for the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani," he said.

Trump was the US President who ordered the killing of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020, which points the assassination plot towards Trump.

According to court documents, others may also have been intended victims because of the mention of targets in the plural.

Federal Bureau of Investigation(FBI) Chief Christopher Wray said, "This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today's charges allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook."

The alleged plotter, who is also known as Asif Raza Merchant, told officials that he has two wives, one each in Pakistan and in Iran, as well as children in both countries.

In the complaint filed in the Federal court in Brooklyn, the plot reads like a spy thriller with an elaborate scheme to burglarise the home of a target, creating diversions with protests and rallies, and killing the politician.

It also included a show of bonding between Merchant, 46, and the undercover officers he thought were professional killers.

The court papers said the plot involved multiple elements: stealing documents or USB drives from a target's home; planning protests, and killing a politician or government official.

Merchant made up code names for each element in the plot: "tee-shirt" for protests, "flannel shirt" for stealing documents, "fleece jacket" for the assassination, and "yarn-dye" for their meetings.

To entice the person he contacted first and who informed officials, Merchant told him that he has an uncle in the "yarn-dyed" business in Pakistan and he could go into business with them.

He asked the government source he thought was an assassin for hire to explain how the target would die in different scenarios.

The revelation about this plot comes less than a month after the July 13 failed assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

However, there does not seem to be a connection between the plot by Merchant and that attempt, which officials have said was carried out by a lone wolf, a person unconnected to any group or organisation.

The plot failed because Merchant tried to recruit FBI agents for the assassination attempt.

"Fortunately, the assassins Merchant tried to hire were undercover FBI agents," said Christie Curtis, the Acting Assistant Director of the New York FBI Field Office.

He was arrested on July 12 as he was getting ready to catch a flight out of the country.

Merchant arrived in the US in April from Pakistan after spending time in Iran, according to the version of the plot in court papers.

He contacted a person he thought could help him and that person reported it to law enforcement and became a confidential source.

In mid-June, Merchant met with people he thought were hitmen, but were undercover US law enforcement officers (the UCs) in New York.

He told them he wanted them to steal documents, arrange protests at political rallies, and kill a "political person".

The plot would have to be carried out after he left the country and in either the last week of August or the first week of September they would be told who the target was, Merchant told the undercover officers.

He received $5,000 from overseas and made a down payment to the undercover agents.

According to the court papers, one of the agents said after getting the money, "Now we know we're going forward. We're doing this," to which Merchant responded: "Yes, absolutely."

Political violence is a constant worry in the US.

Last week, a man was arrested in Virginia for allegedly threatening to kill the Democratic Party presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

"Kamala Harris needs to be put on fire alive. I will do it personally if no one else does... I want her to suffer a slow agonising death," Frank Lucio Carillo posted on a right-wing social media site, according to the FBI complaint in a Federal court.

He also allegedly threatened President Joe Biden and FBI Chief Wray.

MORE International ARTICLES

What's next after protests forced Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to quit and flee the country?

What's next after protests forced Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina,  to quit and flee the country?
What began as peaceful protests by students in Bangladesh against a quota system for government jobs eventually turned into an uprising that forced Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to resign and flee the country by helicopter. The end to Hasina's 15 years in power came after weeks of violent unrest during which nearly 300 people died, according to local media reports.

What's next after protests forced Bangladesh's prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to quit and flee the country?

Kamala Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, hails from state with close ties to Canada

Kamala Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, hails from state with close ties to Canada
Vice President Kamala Harris has picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate, marking a major milestone since her move to the top of the Democratic ticket ahead of the November presidential election.  They are expected to appear together at a rally this evening after Harris formally clinched the nomination on Monday. 

Kamala Harris's running mate, Tim Walz, hails from state with close ties to Canada

Kamala Harris wins Democratic party nomination for President

Kamala Harris wins Democratic party nomination for President
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday won the Democratic nomination for President, securing a majority of votes of the delegates. She will be crowned the party’s nominee ceremonially at a convention later this month.

Kamala Harris wins Democratic party nomination for President

Harris, Trump neck to neck in new poll

Harris, Trump neck to neck in new poll
 According to a latest poll, the race between Ex President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris is at razor's edge in the aftermath of President Biden’s decision to drop out. Trump got support of 49% of voters while Harris had the backing of 47% of the voters. 

Harris, Trump neck to neck in new poll

Kamala Harris likely to follow path blazed by Biden on Canada-U.S. relationship

Kamala Harris likely to follow path blazed by Biden on Canada-U.S. relationship
Observers expect Kamala Harris to follow President Joe Biden’s roadmap for America’s relationship with Canada as she moves to secure the Democratic party's presidential nomination. Biden endorsed Harris, his second-in-command, as he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race Sunday.

Kamala Harris likely to follow path blazed by Biden on Canada-U.S. relationship

Republican National Convention to focus on foreign policy

Republican National Convention to focus on foreign policy
Trump, who was officially confirmed as the Republican presidential candidate on Monday, has mused about increased tariffs, been critical of aid to Ukraine and repeatedly claimed he would not defend NATO members that don't meet defence spending targets — of which Canada is one.

Republican National Convention to focus on foreign policy

PrevNext