Two men posing as federal agents with links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence were arrested by federal prosecutors in Washington DC. The two men, Haider Ali, 35 and Arian Taherzadeh, 40, will be held without bail for impersonating federal agents in Washington DC. One among them also held visas from Pakistan and Iran, news agency ANI reported.
They also gave free apartments and gifts to other US Secret Service agents, including to one official who worked on the US first lady Jill Biden’s security detail.
Ali and Taherzadeh were arrested on Wednesday after Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials raided a luxury apartment building in Washington. Both men used their false associations with the US governments to ‘ingratiate themselves with members of federal law enforcement and the defence community’.
Ali and Taherzadeh were in possession of equipment, handguns and assault rifles used by US’ federal law enforcement agencies. The federal agents who arrested Ali and Taherzadeh found out about them last month after the US Postal Inspector responded to a complaint when a US Postal Service letter carrier was assaulted outside a building in Washington DC. Both these men identified themselves as members of a false squad named the US Special Police Investigation Unit which they said was part of the Homeland Security unit. They said that they were investigating undercover gang-related probes and 2021 Capitol Hill riots.
The residents of the building said that these two men held several apartments in the luxury apartment building complex. Ali and Taherzadeh also accessed residents’ surveillance cameras, cell phones and other personal information. Both said that the properties were being paid for by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Later the authorities found that the luxury apartment building housed employees of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Secret Service and DHS. These two also possessed surveillance equipment and a high-power telescope along with a binder which contained information on all the residents in the luxury apartment building. The prosecutors believe that both men were creating surveillance devices.
Assistant US Attorney Joshua Rothstein said that Ali told witnesses that he was affiliated with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency in Pakistan. He was in possession of multiple visas from Pakistan and Iran before being caught by federal officers. Ali travelled to multiple destinations in west Asia and travelled to Istanbul, Turkey and Doha in Qatar.
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