Asif Merchant (Photo/X)
Hyderabad: A Pakistani national identified as Asif Merchant was arrested last month on alleged planning to kill a US politician.
A person familiar with the issue told Bloomberg that one Asif viewed Former President Donald Trump as one of the possible targets.
However, another source informed the news agency that there is no proof Asif Merchant's plan had any connection to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month.
In retaliation for the US assassination of Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani, the US Justice Department said Asif Merchant, 46, allegedly attempted to hire a hitman to kill a politician or a US government figure in the US.
In a statement, FBI, director Christopher Wray said, "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…A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security."
Asif Merchant is a national of Pakistan, according to court documents, and his travel logs show that he frequently travels to the US Justice Department, Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
As per the FBI, Asif Merchant got to the US from Pakistan in April 2024 and got in touch with someone he believed may help him with his intentions to assassinate people.
Then, he met with the individual, in June in New York, who eventually became a confidential source after reporting Merchant's actions to law authorities, and he laid out his strategy.
In a statement, the FBI said, "Merchant told the source that the opportunity he had for him was not one-time and would be ongoing - making a ‘finger-gun’ motion with his hand indicating it was regarding a killing."
The targeted victims, according to Merchant, were in the US. He also told the alleged hitman (source), that his strategy comprised multiple criminal schemes, including organizing a protest, killing a politician or government official, and stealing documents or USB drives from a target's house.
According to the FBI, Asif Merchant informed the alleged hitman that he would be communicating with him from abroad using code words and that the assassination would take place after he left the United States.
The FBI stated that Merchant intended to assassinate an official during the last week of August or the first week of September.
On June 21, Merchant with the hitmen paid 5,000 dollars to carry out the plan. Following this, he made flight arrangements and planned to leave the US on July 12. However, the law enforcement agents arrested him before he could leave.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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