Man accused of plotting NYC Oct. 7 attack made refugee claim in Canada: immigration consultant

While a Pakistani man living in the Toronto area was allegedly planning a mass murder of Jews in New York, he was also seeking refugee status in Canada, according to an immigration consultant.

The U.S. is now aiming to extradite Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 19, after he was arrested by RCMP in a dramatic operation on Sept. 4 in Ormstown, Que., not far from the U.S. border. 

The FBI alleges Khan told undercover officers he was building an ISIS cell to "slaughter" as many Jewish civilians as possible in a violent rampage around the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel. 

Fazal Qadeer, a Mississauga, Ont.-based immigration consultant who had worked with Khan, said he had been surprised to learn of the arrest. He said Khan hadn't shown signs of radicalization.

Qadeer said Khan was in the process of claiming refugee status on the basis of his sexual orientation. "He said he was gay," Qadeer told CBC News in a recent interview.

Same-sex relations are banned under Pakistan's penal code, according to the U.S.-based human rights organization, Outright International.

The status of Khan's immigration claim at the time of his arrest is unclear. Qadeer said Khan had recently undergone a "long" interview with Immigration, Refugee and Citizenship Canada (IRCC).

A spokesperson for IRCC declined to comment on Khan's case. 

The refugee claim does not appear in a report prepared by immigration officials last month for the House of Commons standing committee on public safety and national security.

The report says Khan applied for a Canadian study permit in March 2023. He was approved the following month and landed in Toronto on June 23, 2023.

IRCC said it had not referred his file to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) for a "comprehensive security screening," because an initial assessment "did not identify any risk indicators."

The same committee of MPs is also probing how Ahmed Fouad Mostafa Eldidi, 62, was able to gain Canadian citizenship despite allegedly appearing in a gruesome ISIS propaganda video years earlier. Eldidi and his son, Mostafa Eldidi, a 27-year-old Egyptian citizen, are accused of plotting an axe and machete attack in Toronto.

Within five months of Khan's arrival in Canada, he had attracted the attention of an FBI informant.

According to a U.S. criminal complaint unsealed last month, Khan had posted on social media, expressing "his desire to carry out terrorist attacks in support" of the self-styled Islamic State group (ISIS).