A 22-year-old Afghan national was charged in France on Saturday for plotting attacks on a French soccer stadium or shopping center, according to French anti-terrorism officials. The suspect’s name has not been released.
This arrest came just one day after the suspect’s relative, Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, was detained in Oklahoma for allegedly planning an ISIS-inspired attack on US Election Day.
On October 7, US authorities arrested 27-year-old Tawhedi in Oklahoma for allegedly planning an assault rifle attack on November 5, the day of the 2024 general election. Tawhedi, who reportedly worked as a CIA security guard in Afghanistan, entered the US legally after the 2021 US withdrawal from the country.
US officials reported that Tawhedi passed two security screenings without raising any red flags. Investigators are now probing whether he became radicalized after his arrival in the US. The FBI’s investigation is ongoing.
In France, authorities began investigating the 22-year-old Afghan on September 27. On October 8, just a day after Tawhedi’s arrest in the US, French law enforcement took the suspect into custody. French anti-terrorism officials say the suspect had planned a violent attack on either a stadium or shopping center and was linked to ISIS ideology.
Two others were arrested alongside the main suspect in the Haute-Garonne region of southwestern France, in the cities of Toulouse and Fronton, but they were later released.