New York: A 46-year-old Pakistani national with close ties to Iran was on Tuesday charged in connection with a foiled plot to assassinate a politician or US government officials on American soil, authorities here said. Asif Raza Merchant was charged in a complaint unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn with murder-for-hire as part of a scheme to assassinate a politician or US government officials on its soil.
Law enforcement foiled the charged plot before any attack could be carried out. Merchant, who has stated that he has a wife and children in Iran and a wife and children in Pakistan, is in federal custody in New York.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that 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 Qasem Soleimani.
US Attorney Breon Peace for the Eastern District of New York said that working on behalf of others overseas, Merchant planned the murder of US government officials on American soil. FBI Director Christopher Wray said the dangerous murder-for-hire plot allegedly was orchestrated by a Pakistani national with close ties to Iran and is straight out of the Iranian playbook.
According to court documents, Merchant orchestrated a plot to assassinate a politician or US government officials on US soil. In April 2024, after spending time in Iran, Merchant arrived in the United States from Pakistan and contacted a person he believed could assist him with the scheme. That person reported Merchant's conduct to law enforcement and became a confidential source.
In early June, Merchant met the confidential source in New York and explained his assassination plot. Merchant told the individual the opportunity he had for the person was not a one-time opportunity and would be ongoing. Merchant then made a finger gun motion with his hand, indicating that the opportunity was related to a killing.
Merchant further stated that the intended victims would be targeted here, meaning in the United States. Merchant instructed the individual to arrange meetings with others whom he could hire to carry out these actions. Merchant explained that his plot involved multiple criminal schemes including stealing documents or USB drives from a target's home; planning a protest; and killing a politician or government official.
Merchant at the meeting, began planning potential assassination scenarios and quizzed the individual on how he would kill a target in the various scenarios. Specifically, Merchant asked to explain how the target would die in different scenarios. The merchant told the individual that there would be security [] all around the person.
Merchant stated that the assassination would occur after he left the United States and he would communicate with the individual from overseas using code words. The source asked whether Merchant had spoken to the unidentified party back home with whom Merchant was working.
Merchant responded that he had and the party back home told him to finalise the plan and leave the United States. In mid-June, Merchant met with the purported hitmen, who were undercover US law enforcement officers in New York.
Merchant advised the undercover officers that he was looking for three services from them: theft of documents, arranging protests at political rallies, and for them to kill a political person.
Merchant said the hitmen would receive instructions on who to kill either the last week of August or the first week of September after he had departed the United States. Merchant then began arranging means to obtain USD 5,000 in cash to pay the undercover officers as an advance payment for the assassination, which he eventually received with assistance from an individual overseas.
On June 21, Merchant met with the undercover officers in New York and paid them the USD 5,000 advance. One of the undercover officers stated: Now we're bonded, to which Merchant responded: Yes. The undercover officer added: Now we know we're going forward. We're doing this, to which Merchant responded, Yes, absolutely.
Merchant subsequently made flight arrangements and planned to leave the United States on July 12 when law enforcement agents placed him under arrest before he could leave the country.
