A family member of an Afghan arrested in Oklahoma last week for allegedly plotting an Election Day terror attack reportedly has been apprehended in France on suspicion of plotting his own strike in support of ISIS.
Authorities indicted a 22-year-old Afghan man Saturday on charges of “foment[ing]” a “plan for violent action” at a soccer match or shopping center, according to the Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office in Paris.
France 24 reported Sunday that the suspect, who has not been publicly named, is the younger brother of Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, who was charged Oct. 8 with conspiring to commit a mass shooting in Oklahoma City.
American authorities investigating Tawhedi’s case tipped off French terrorism investigators about the plot after discovering communications between the two relatives on Telegram, according to the report.
It’s unclear to what extent the potential attacks would have been coordinated.
Nasir Tawhedi, 27, wrangled his teenage brother-in-law into the Oklahoma plot, in which both he and the unnamed minor were planning to die as “martyrs,” according to court documents. The unnamed co-conspirator was a virtual student at Southmoore High School in Moore, south of Oklahoma City.
Tawhedi also made extensive arrangements to relocate his wife, child, mother-in-law and siblings back to Afghanistan ahead of the planned attack so that his loved ones could live their lives “according to pure Islam,” according to his arrest affidavit.
To finance their attack and the family’s travel — and to raise funds for ISIS — Tawhedi sold his father-in-law’s $190,000, four-bedroom home in Moore, where his mother-in-law lived with his accomplice and the teen’s siblings, according to the affidavit
Tawhedi had originally listed the home for $230,000 in late July, but repeatedly cut the asking price as it went unsold with Election Day approaching. Tawhedi told his purported ISIS facilitator that his father-in-law was unaware of his plans.
Tawhedi and his young in-law may have originally intended to commit the attack in Washington, DC, as he had looked up and viewed public webcams of the Washington Monument and the White House on July 25, 2024 — the same day the Moore home was listed for sale, according to court documents and public property records.
They also sold all the belongings inside the home with the intention of moving the surviving women and children of the family to Kabul on Oct. 17, 2024, where ISIS was supposed to greet and help them.
Tawhedi also went so far as to rehome the family’s pets as part of the process, according to the affidavit.
The pair were ultimately caught when they listed a Chromebook laptop on Facebook Marketplace, where an undercover FBI agent found and bought several electronics from them. The same agent later sold the men two AK-47s that they intended to use in their Nov. 5 attack.
Tawhedi was in the US after evacuating from Afghanistan as a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicant following the disastrous Biden-Harris administration withdrawal from Kabul. He was paroled into the country in September 2021.
Questions over the vetting process for Afghan evacuees have reached a fever pitch in the days since Tawhedi’s arrest. Lawmakers including Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas) and House Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) have each called for “transparency regarding the inadequate vetting and screening” of those evacuated from Afghanistan.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) on Monday told Fox News that he is also concerned about the vetting of the immigrants — and that more with terrorist leanings could be hiding in the US.
“What I’m worried about is more terror attacks, like the one that the Justice Department just caught. I hope against the next one but the odds are against then. That’s a recipe for disaster, and I’m worried that more of this is going to happen.”
NBC News reported that Tawhedi was previously employed as a security guard for the CIA, which gave him eligibility to apply for an SIV.
Other law enforcement sources told The Post that the feds believe Tawhedi radicalized himself online after arriving in the US.