By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
NewsunplugNewsunplugNewsunplug
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Metro
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Journal
Reading: Pakistani man with ties to Iran arrested after he tried to hire hitmen to k!ll Trump and other US politicians
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Font ResizerAa
NewsunplugNewsunplug
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Metro
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Journal
Search
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Metro
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Lifestyle
  • Journal
Have an existing account? Sign In
Follow US
Newsunplug > Blog > Metro > Pakistani man with ties to Iran arrested after he tried to hire hitmen to k!ll Trump and other US politicians
Metro

Pakistani man with ties to Iran arrested after he tried to hire hitmen to k!ll Trump and other US politicians

Godson
Last updated: August 8, 2024 7:03 am
Godson
Published: August 8, 2024
Share
SHARE

A Pakistani man with ties to Iran has been charged over an alleged plot to assassinate US politicians and officials.

Asif Merchant, 46, is accused of attempting to hire a hitman in New York to kill prominent American officials.

FBI director Christopher Wray called the scheme a “dangerous murder-for-hire plot… straight out of the Iranian playbook”.

CBS quoted sources as saying Donald Trump was among Merchant’s targets.

Security for the Republican presidential nominee was increased in June after authorities learned of an Iranian plot to kill him.

“A foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to our national security and will be met with the full might and resources of the FBI,” Mr Wray said on Tuesday, August 6.

Mr Merchant was arrested in July and is being held in New York.

According to the justice department’s indictment, Mr Merchant arrived in the US from Pakistan in April after having spent time in Iran.

After arriving, he allegedly contacted a person whom he believed could help with the assassination plot. That unnamed contact later reported Mr Merchant to the police.

Mr Merchant allegedly made a “finger gun” motion with his hand when talking about what he wanted to do.

The indictment said the job would not be a “one-time opportunity” and that contacts services would be needed on an ongoing basis.

Mr Merchant allegedly told the contact he planned to leave the US before targets were killed, and that he would stay in contact using code words.

The suspect asked the contact to arrange a meeting with would-be assassins, the indictment says. The contact then connected him in June to undercover FBI agents posing as hitmen.

Mr Merchant allegedly told the agents they were to steal documents from the home of a target, arrange protests at political rallies, and kill a “political person”.

According to the indictment, Mr Merchant said the targets would be communicated in the last week of August or the first week of September.

While the indictment does not mention Trump by name, sources cited by CBS said that the former president was one of the intended targets.

The plot is unrelated to the assassination attempt on the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July, by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper on site.

Trump and officials including his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, have faced threats from Tehran since ordering the drone strike assassination of Qassim Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds force, in Iraq in 2020.

 

You Might Also Like

Man files lawsuit after being removed from Whatsapp group
EFCC alerts public on fake land vendors in Abuja, arrests one
Four dead, others injured as trailer rams into vehicles on Abuja-Keffi highway
Man allegedly caught r@p!ng his lover’s 8-year-old daughter in Bayelsa (video)
Man Beats His Wife to D3ath Over Yam in Ebonyi (Photo)

Quick Link

  • My Bookmark
  • Interests
  • Contact Us
  • Blog Index
Share This Article
Facebook Twitter Email Print
What do you think?
Love0
Sad0
Happy0
Sleepy0
Angry0
Dead0
Wink0

Recent Posts

  • Singer Bella Thorne claims colleague Charlie Puth turned on her for not sl33ping with him
  • Aston Villa squad value: Where do Villans rank as Premier League rivals spend big?
  • I have turned to a single mother because I foolishly married a man that has sworn to spend his life abroad – Nigerian woman laments
  • Diogo Jota: Liverpool officially retire No. 20 shirt
  • Court sentences three to d3ath and life imprisonment for ritual k!lling of 16-year-old in Ogun

Recent Comments

No comments to show.

Categories

  • ES Money
  • U.K News
  • The Escapist
  • Insider
  • Science
  • Technology
  • LifeStyle
  • Marketing

About US

We influence 20 million users and is the number one business and technology news network on the planet.
Quick Link
  • My Bookmark
  • Interests
  • Contact Us
  • Blog Index
Top Categories
  • My Bookmark
  • Interests
  • Contact Us
  • Blog Index

Subscribe US

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

[mc4wp_form]

Top Categories

  • Entertainment

Categories

  • ES Money
  • U.K News
  • The Escapist
  • Insider
  • Science
  • Technology
  • LifeStyle
  • Marketing

About US

We influence 20 million users and is the number one business and technology news network on the planet.
Quick Link
  • My Bookmark
  • Interests
  • Contact Us
  • Blog Index
Top Categories
  • My Bookmark
  • Interests
  • Contact Us
  • Blog Index

Subscribe US

Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!

[mc4wp_form]
© 2023 Newsunplug | All Rights Reserved.
adbanner
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?