Prosecutors say Asif Merchant, also known as Asif Raza Merchant, 46, was arrested in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a U.S. politician on U.S. soil, allegedly attempting to hire a hit man to do the job.
Law enforcement officers stopped the plan before it could take place, using undercover officers, according to charging documents.
“This dangerous murder-for-hire plot exposed in today’s complaint allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any U.S. citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI.”
Merchant is alleged to have contacted someone he believed could help him with the scheme after arriving in the U.S. from Pakistan, having previously spent time in Iran. The person he contacted alerted law enforcement and became a confidential source.
Merchant reportedly to the source this was not a one-time plan and there would be ongoing opportunities before describing multiple criminal schemes, including stealing documents or USB drives from a target, planning a protest and killing a U.S. politician or government official.
“While describing the assassination plot, Merchant made a “finger gun” motion with his hand, indicating he meant murder. Merchant stated that the people he worked for overseas told him to “finalize” the plan, so he asked the CS to set up meetings with hitmen who could carry out the plot. Merchant stated that he performed “Istikharah from Quran before doing this,” meaning Merchant prayed to God “about whether [he] should do this work or not” and received clarity from God to carry out his mission,” a court document said.
The documents show he pressed for details on how it would work, noting that the target would have security around them. Merchant allegedly pressed for details on how the unnamed politician would be killed in different scenarios. Court documents say he also developed a series of code words to communicate and instructed the source not to write them down.
According to investigators, Merchant said he has a wife and children in Pakistan and a wife and children in Iran. He planned to be out of the country by the time the plot took place and said he would communicate with the source from overseas, documents show.
In mid-June, Merchant is said to have met with the purported hit men, who were actually law enforcement officers. After paying the undercover officers $5,000, Merchant allegedly planned to leave the country before the assassination occurred.
He was arrested in July and is in federal custody. During the arrest, an affidavit states that agents found the handwritten note with the code words he intended to use to communicate about the assassination plot. The FBI is investigating the case.
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