A former ISIS supporter who entered Canada on a study permit and had plans to use automatic weapons to kill Jewish people in New York City has pleaded guilty to a terrorism charge in a U.S. courtroom.
Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, a 21-year-old Pakistani national who had been living in Ontario, appeared before a federal judge in Manhattan this week where he publicly admitted for the first time his participation in a plot to attack a Jewish centre in 2024.
Khan was arrested in Ormstown, Que., near the U.S. border on Sept. 4, 2024, by the RCMP. Police said at the time that he was thought to be making his way across the border into New York state to carry out a mass shooting at a Jewish centre in Brooklyn.
Khan, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, had chosen New York City because he thought it was the “perfect venue” due to its large Jewish population, Eisenberg said, adding that Khan had also “boasted” he would carry out the largest attack on American soil since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Khan confirmed his violent intentions in the Manhattan federal court on April 8, where he pleaded guilty to a single charge of trying to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.
He told Judge Paul G. Gardephe that his motivation to support the Islamic State group stemmed from a desire for retaliation against Israel for killing Palestinians in Gaza. He said he now regrets his plan, which included renting a space next to the Jewish centre.
“I was not raised this way,” Khan said, adding that plotting to kill Jewish people was a “terrible, extremely dangerous and morally reprehensible idea.”
Entry Into Canada
Khan applied for a student visa in May 2023 and entered Canada at the Toronto Pearson airport in June 2023, then-Immigration Minister Marc Miller told reporters shortly after the man’s arrest.Records presented to MPs at a committee hearing in Ottawa after Khan’s arrest showed that Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada “did not identify any risk indicators” in Khan’s visa application and it was not referred for a more comprehensive security review.
“Let’s not be naive,” Miller said in a press conference at the time. “A determined individual can gain access to this country and that is for the security services inside our country to apprehend this person if they commit a crime, or if they’re about to commit a crime. And that’s exactly what happened.”
Khan drew the attention of the authorities within months of settling in Ontario.
He began posting about his support for the Islamic State group in November 2023, according to the U.S. Justice Department press release. He then began planning terrorist attacks in the United States and communicating with two undercover law enforcement officers, the release said.
His communications with the officers led to his arrest the following fall.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree lauded the close relationship between police in Canada and the United States while speaking to reporters on April 8, and credited that relationship with foiling the mass shooting plan.
Anandasangaree said there is “great” collaboration between law enforcement in both countries, and added that the border is secured by Canadians but also with support from the Five Eyes alliance, which shares signals intelligence among its members, including Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States.
