The Ohio federal prosecutor said in a statement that Shihab Ahmed Shihab, 52, is accused of “supporting and abetting a conspiracy to kill former United States President George W.
He said the man had done scouting, planned to bring in an entire team from the Middle East and thought about acquiring weapons and fake police uniforms to kill the president at the core of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Arriving legally in the United States in 2020 on a tourist visa, Mr. Shihab lived between Columbus, Ohio (North) and Indianapolis before applying for asylum. He tried to help a man he thought was an Iraqi, to immigrate to the United States in exchange for money.
“In October and December 2021, Mr. Shihab accepted thousands of dollars for the alleged crossing. In fact, the person was fictitious and the exchanges were coordinated under the direction of the FBI”, US Federal Police, specifies the prosecutor.
In a document made public on Tuesday, it indicates that two unnamed sources, who spoke with the suspect on several occasions, made it possible to update the matter.
According to this document, the men he wanted to bring to the United States were “not clean,” he told an FBI source. Mr Shihab also claims to be a cousin of former IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
“Al Raid”
Two men, former Iraqi secret services, were to carry out the operation, helped by other men who were members of IS and a group called “al-Raid”, Shihab Ahmed Shihab told the FBI.
The “Al-Raid” group, which the suspect claims to be a member of, is based in Qatar and appears to be behind this cell.
One of the six or seven members of the planned team was “an ISIS secretary to the finance minister” and would have helped finance the operation, which was estimated at $3 million.
These people had to illegally enter and leave the United States across the border with Mexico.
According to the FBI, the suspect went to take photographs at George W. Bush’s former home in Dallas, Texas, in early February. In early March, the FBI Mole presented weapons and a police uniform to the suspect who took the photo.
Shihab Ahmed Shihab said before The Mole that “he helped the Resistance by killing several Americans in Iraq between 2003 and 2006”, with the “Resistance” being understood by the FBI as the al-Qaeda or Islamic State group in Iraq. .
Cell “wanted to kill former President Bush because he believed he was responsible for the deaths of many Iraqis and the collapse of Iraq as a whole after the military intervention launched in 2003”, notes the document.
He appeared in federal court for the first time since his arrest Tuesday morning by an FBI counterterrorism unit.
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