Mahin Khan: FBI Arrests Muslim Teenager Allegedly Planning Terror Attack In Arizona

Mahin Khan, an 18-year-old teenager from Tucson, Arizona, has been arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after he was suspected of planning terror attacks in the region. According to a report by AZ Central, Khan had allegedly planned to attack several government buildings situated in Maricopa and Pima counties. Mahin was arrested following an investigation conducted by the Joint task Force of the FBI. Following his arrest, Mahin Khan was booked into the Maricopa County Jail. He will reportedly be charged on suspicion of conspiring to commit acts of terror.

At this time, it remains unclear as to what kind of attacks were allegedly being planned by Mahin. According to Mia Garcia, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, there is no indication that he was planning any attacks on the Fourth of July or other Independence Day-related festivities. A statement released by Garcia on behalf of the the Arizona Attorney General’s Office read as follows.

“The Arizona Attorney General’s Office is working closely with federal authorities to keep Arizonans safe. We are not aware of any threats Khan made that involve the Fourth of July holiday weekend.”

Investigators have confirmed that Mahin was, in this case, acting alone and they do not have any additional suspects. Khan was also presented in a local court. However, no details regarding his hearing have been made available because the Attorney General’s Office has requested the judge to seal the records for a week, until authorities complete an investigation.

“We asked the judge to seal the records to protect our investigation before we made the arrest,” Garcia said. The records are likely to be unsealed the next week.

#4thOfJuly freedom wins over Hillary’s Muslim emigrant Mahin Khan arrested in Arizona for attempted terrorism plans. pic.twitter.com/Ifgk9kuV8r

— S.A.N.E. Planet (@saneplanet) July 3, 2016

Preliminary reports add that Mahin Khan and his family lived in a gated community in north Tucson. At this time, there are no further details pertaining to his family. AZ Central says it did manage to contact a person who is believed to be Khan’s father. He however declined to comment on the case. Neighbors from the area were visibly surprised at the arrest of Mahin who they described to be a person with a quiet personality.

The arrest of Mahin Khan comes at a time when there has been a spike in terrorist attacks across the globe. In the week that Mahin was arrested, there were three major attacks in different parts of the world. First, it was Turkey where ISIS suicide bombers stormed the Istanbul airport and killed more than 40 people.

This was followed by the barbaric terrorist attack in the city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, where 20 people were slaughtered by five young terrorists, believed to have pledged allegiance to the ISIS. All the terrorists involved in the Dhaka attack were college students from affluent families. The third attack in the same week came from Baghdad in Iraq where targeted bombs killed more than 115 people in a single day — making it one of the biggest terrorist attacks in recent history. All these attacks were believed to be plotted and executed by ISIS, or the Islamic State, as it is also referred to.

Meanwhile, experts believe these attacks are in response to the huge losses in territory the ISIS has been suffering for the past few months. Most recently, they lost control of the city of Fallujah in Iraq where they had been in power since January, 2014.

While there is no mention of an ISIS (Islamic State) angle in the case of Mahin Khan so far, the time of the arrest does raise a few questions. We might have to wait a few days before we get a clearer picture behind the planned attacks in Arizona.

[Photo: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office]