New York terror plot suspect lived in the Greater Toronto Area: RCMP

A man arrested last week in Quebec in connection with an alleged Islamic State terror plot to kill Jewish people in New York around the anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel most recently lived in the Greater Toronto Area, police say.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday that Pakistani national Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was arrested last Wednesday in relation to a planned mass shooting that was to take place around Oct. 7.

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland said Khan, a Canadian resident, was alleged to have had the goal of “slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible.”

He added Khan was arrested thanks to “quick action” by Canadian law enforcement, including the RCMP and a national GTA law enforcement team comprised of Peel Regional Police and other forces.

The FBI played a lead role in the larger investigation.

Prior to Khan’s arrest, he was living somewhere in the GTA, the RCMP told INsauga.com in an email. However, the federal law enforcement agency didn’t specify where, exactly, in the GTA.

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The RCMP added the investigation on the Canadian side of the border was led by the Greater Toronto Area Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in collaboration with the FBI. INSET includes members of the RCMP, federal partners/agencies and provincial and municipal police services, including Peel police.

U.S. authorities alleged in a news release on Friday that Khan intended to use “automatic and semi-automatic weapons” in a shooting at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn.

It said he was arrested in or around Ormstown, Que., on his way to New York.

He was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization.

The RCMP said they conducted an investigation into Khan in partnership with the FBI and, “that as his actions escalated, at no point in time was Khan an immediate threat prior to his arrest.”

Police said Khan was to appear in Superior Court of Justice in Montreal on Sept. 13 and that the U.S. would be seeking extradition.

— with files from The Canadian Press