Pakistani Citizen Arrested In US, Allegedly Planned To Kill US Officials Including Donald Trump

JAKARTA - A Pakistani citizen suspected of having ties to Iran was arrested and charged with planning a assassination scheme targeting US government officials and political authorities.

CBS News quoted a statement claiming that a man named Asif Merchant (46 years) is suspected of planning to kill officials and former US officials including former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Intelligence information on the alleged Merchant's plans prompted the US Secret Service to further improve security for the former president in recent weeks, the source said.

Although the time of the indictment coincided with the assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, there were no indications of a plan to attack Merchant in connection with the shooting.

"Law enforcement thwarted any alleged plans before any attack was carried out. Our ongoing investigation has yet to find evidence that the defendant has links to the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania," a legal information official said in a statement to CBS News.

US intelligence and law enforcement officials including FBI Director Christopher Wray are investigating various streaming threats from Iran against politicians and government officials since the assassination of Iran's important general Qasem Soleimani during the Trump administration. Former national security adviser John Bolton and former Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo have also received threats from the Iranian government, but were not mentioned in court documents.

Mercant's alleged planning began in April, according to court documents, when he flew to the US to "recruit individuals to carry out plans to kill US government officials."

Investigators said the perpetrators then met with a fellow conspirator who turned into an FBI informant in New York and started a relationship for months, in which Merchant disclosed his plans to an unnamed individual.

During a meeting in June, Merchant allegedly asked FBI informants to arrange a meeting with potential hitmen.

Court documents reveal the plan includes stealing USB documents or drives from an unnamed target home.

"The people who will be targeted are those who harm Pakistan and the world, the Muslim world," Merchant quoted the source as saying.

He wrote the plan on his sanitary napkin in his hotel room in New York, prosecutors said.

The FBI merchants and informants are said to be walking around New York City looking for a club where he can recruit other people to help his gang, according to court documents.

The unnamed individual arranged for Merchant to meet with two secret agents who Merchant said were hitmen.

"During the meeting, Merchant presented himself as a'representation' in the US, which showed that there were other people working for him outside the US," the prosecutor wrote.

He then agreed to pay the people $5.000 before the murder plan was carried out as a down payment and created code language to speak about the alleged murder plot in secret.