Afghan man arrested for planning ISIS-inspired election day attack: DOJ

The Justice Department said an Afghan citizen was arrested on election day and charged with weapons procurement and planning an ISIS-inspired attack.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, a 27-year-old Oklahoma City resident, was arrested by FBI agents along with a teenage co-conspirator and charged with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and conspiring to purchase firearms for the attack.

Tawhedi entered the country from Afghanistan in September 2021 on a special immigrant visa. He is on probation status as he awaits immigration proceedings, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday. He lived in an apartment in Oklahoma City with his 24-year-old wife and 1-year-old daughter.

The co-conspirator was not named in the criminal complaint, but investigators identified him as Tawhedi’s brother-in-law. He was also born in Afghanistan and lived in Moore, Oklahoma. According to the complaint, he also entered the United States in 2018 on a special immigrant visa and became a lawful permanent resident.

Investigators said Tawhedi began liquidating his assets – including a home in Moore, Oklahoma, two vehicles, furniture and other personal items. Before the attack, he bought one-way plane tickets back to Afghanistan to resettle his family.

After searching his electronic devices, investigators discovered that Tawhedi had an extensive digital library of ISIS texts and propaganda images, as well as access to ISIS-friendly Telegram channels. Earlier this year, Tawhedi donated about $540 in cryptocurrency to an ISIS-affiliated charity in Syria. The group published its wallet address in pro-ISIS Telegram channels, investigators said.

In August he had contact with a man named Abdul Malik, who was already under investigation by the FBI. The agency found that he was involved in “recruiting, training and indoctrinating individuals who expressed interest in terrorist activities.”

In September, Tawhedi began talking to Malik about buying firearms, selling his assets and moving his family to Afghanistan.

“Brother, we sold our house today,” Tawhedi told Malik in a message on Telegram, according to the criminal complaint. “We will receive the money by October 15 next month. After that we will begin our duty, God willing, and with God’s help we will prepare for election day.”

Tawhedi eventually sold his computers to a person identified in the complaint as an FBI informant, whom federal agents described as “a highly reliable source for the FBI for nearly nine years, with no concerns about handling.” This person told Tawhedi that he was starting a firearms business and eventually offered to sell him and his co-conspirator two AK-47 rifles.

In messages reviewed by federal investigators, Tawhedi told his alleged ISIS contact that his family included his wife, their 1-year-old daughter, his mother-in-law, three sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law – but not his father-in-law.

Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

“We sold the house for $185,000,” Tawhedi Malik said in another message. “It belonged to my father-in-law. We will take the money for our expenses, but my father-in-law doesn’t know about it because he isn’t coming and if there is any money left, then we will give it, God willing.”

He also described his plans to purchase the guns and ammunition from the person to whom he had sold his computers. “We’re just going to buy some magazines from this guy so he doesn’t suspect us,” Tawhedi told Malik. “Magazines are sold everywhere, we buy them somewhere else.”

Tawhedi and his co-conspirator met the FBI informant on October 7, as well as a second informant and an undercover agent for the deal. They were arrested after purchasing two AK-47 rifles and ten ammunition magazines.

In an interview with FBI agents after his arrest, Tawhedi reportedly said he wanted to target “large gatherings of people” on Election Day. Both suspected terrorists told agents they expected to be “martyred” in the attack.