Man arrested in US attack plot is Afghan, not Pakistani: FO

WEB DESK: The Foreign Office (FO) has clarified that a man recently arrested in Delaware, United States, in possession of firearms and written plans for an attack, is of Afghan origin, not Pakistani.

According to Dawn, FO spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said on Thursday that the suspect spent a few years in Pakistan as a refugee before moving to the US, where he lived for most of his life. “He is not a Pakistani national or of Pakistani origin,” Andrabi confirmed.

The clarification follows reports by several Indian and American media outlets, including USA Today, the New York Post, and Hindustan Times, which incorrectly identified the suspect, Luqman Khan, as Pakistani-born.

According to the US Department of Justice, Khan, a resident of Wilmington, Delaware, and a student at the University of Delaware, was stopped by police at a traffic checkpoint on November 24. Officers found a .357-caliber Glock loaded with 27 rounds, as well as a notebook detailing weapons, attack plans, and methods to evade law enforcement.

Subsequent searches of his residence recovered a Glock 19 with an illegal machine gun conversion device, a .556 rifle with attachments, extended magazines, hollow-point ammunition, and a tactical vest. Khan was formally charged on November 26 for illegal possession of a machine gun, facing a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Sentencing will be determined by a federal judge according to statutory guidelines.