FBI Detains Ohio Man Over Plot to Smuggle ISIS Operatives Over Mexico Border to Assassinate George W. Bush
An ISIS-linked operative is reportedly in federal custody for plotting to assassinate former President George W. Bush.
NBC News’ Tom Winter, citing court documents and law enforcement officials, reported on Tuesday that Shihab Ahmed Shihab “is in custody after the FBI says he wanted to smuggle 4-6 individuals from Iraq into the United States through the Mexico border to kill” Bush.
MORE: Shihab allegedly wanted to conduct the attack on Bush in the name of ISIS.
At all times, court documents show, Shihab was talking to a FBI confidential informant and under some form of surveillance, meaning the physical threat to Bush was low.
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— Tom Winter (@Tom_Winter) May 24, 2022
Forbes’ Thomas Brewster first reported on Tuesday that Shihab “had been in the U.S. since 2020 and had an asylum application pending, according to the FBI’s search-warrant application.”
The outlet reported that “federal agents used two different confidential sources to investigate the plot, one who claimed to offer assistance obtaining false immigration and identification documents, the second a purported customer of the alleged people smuggler, who was willing to pay thousands of dollars to bring his family into the country.”
Whether or not those individuals Shihab wanted to sneak into the United States were ever smuggled is unknown.
Shihab, according to the warrant, told an FBI insider about the plot to assassinate the 43rd president and asked the insider about “[obtaining] replica or fraudulent police and/or FBI identifications and badges” in order to execute the plot and, according to Forbes, “whether it was possible to smuggle the plotters out of the country the same way they came in after their mission was complete.”
As part of the conversations, Shihab reportedly said that he is part of ISIS and that he claimed to attack Americans in Iraq by driving trucks and other vehicles that had explosives.
Reportedly, one of the agents picked up Shihab from the airport in Dallas and they drove past Bush’s compound. Shihab took a video of the experience but didn’t send it to anyone for fear of law enforcement intercepting it.
Shihab will appear in court in Columbus on Tuesday, according to NBC News’ Pete Williams.
Correction: The headline of this article has been corrected to reflect Shihab Ahmed Shihab was “detained” by the FBI, the headline originally reported he was “charged,” which was inaccurate at the time.
