Farhad Shakeri, an Afghan man accused of orchestrating a failed murder-for-hire plan against Donald Trump, was deported from the United States after serving time in prison.
The 51-year-old was released from prison in 2008 after serving 14 years for robbery.
According to the Department of Justice, the alleged terrorist joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and became an asset after being deported.
Shakeri has been accused of participating in an extensive assassination conspiracy on behalf of Tehran alongside two New Yorkers, Jonathan Loadholt, 36, of Staten Island, and Carlisle Rivera, 49, of Brooklyn, also known as Pop.
They are charged with trying to kill Trump along with two Jewish businesspeople in the United States and Iranian-American activist Masih Alinejad. However, the co-conspirators have not been indicted.
The DOJ contends that while Rivera and Loadholt have been taken into custody, Shakeri is still free in Iran.
Who is Farhad Shakeri?
Shakeri arrived in the US as a youngster. However, the FBI has not disclosed the year of his arrival in the country his residence. According to the indictment, he met his co-conspirators while being in jail in the US.
The indictment claims that after his 1994 conviction, he was housed in a number of state jails, including Woodbourne Correctional Center, where he shared custody with the unidentified defendant.
Shakeri was transferred to a Beacon facility in 2005, when authorities claim he first encountered Rivera. He stayed in the US until his expulsion in 2008.
His parole monitoring, according to the New York Department of Corrections and Community monitoring’s records, concluded in 2015.
He was detained again in Sri Lanka just four years later in relation to the seizure of 92 kilograms of heroin, according to the indictment.
Why is Trump on Iran’s target?
Tehran planned the plot against Trump as payback for Iranian major general and commander of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani’s death.
Trump has been on the target since the murder of Soleimani as he threatened to blow Iran “to smithereens” after coming into power.
Shakeri was given the command to kill Trump only a month until Americans cast ballots on November 5.
In recorded phone conversations, he informedthe FBI that he had no intention of completing the operation within the allotted time.
Shakeri was subsequently instructed to postpone the plan because Iran believed Trump would lose the White House race andit would be simpler to reach himwithout his presidential Secret Service protection.