An 18-year-old Tucson man, Mahin Khan, was arrested Friday afternoon in connection with terrorism charges. Khan was taken into custody following a joint operation between the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and FBI.
Khan is alleged to have conspired to commit acts of terror against government buildings in Pima and Maricopa County.
Khan is being held in the Maricopa County jail with no bond on one count of conspiracy to commit terrorism and one count of terrorism.
Khan appeared before a judge Saturday morning.
Taha Hasan, spokesman for the Tucson Islamic Center said he had “no acquaintance or knowledge of this man.” Hasan explained that because the Center offers services to over 500 people on a weekly basis, it would be impossible to say that no one who visited the Center knew him.
‘It is very possible that at one time or another, he may have visited the center. However, I can say with certainty that he was not a regular member or attendee of the mosque,” Hasan told the ADI in an email.
“The Islamic Center of Tucson has continuously and repeatedly denounced any and all acts of terrorism no matter the religion, race or ethnicity of the terrorists,” continued Hasan.
“We were intensely saddened by the terrorist attack in Turkey that targeted Muslims and we are equally relieved for the safety of Tucson and Tucsonans with any plans of terrorism being thwarted,” concluded Hasan.
According to sources, Khan attended Catalina Foothills High School for a short time in 2013. Superintendent Dr. Mary Kamerzell advised the ADI in an email: “Mahin Khan attended Catalina Foothills High School for just a few days in August 2013. There were behavior issues, and his parent withdrew him to avoid disciplinary action. We do not know where he went to school since that time.”
In February 2016, Tucson foothills residents were shaken after ISIS tags appeared in their neighborhood just south of River Road. ISIS tags appeared on a wall in a park along Stone Avenue near River Road.
In November 2015, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said confirmation by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to Breitbart Texas that a group composed of 5 Pakistani men and 1 man from Afghanistan was captured by U.S. Border Patrol agents after having illegally crossed the porous U.S.-Mexico border in the Tucson Sector of Arizona, validates that he was correct in calling for enhanced border security.
Military personnel in Tucson were advised late last year that their personal information had been compromised in the OPM breach and to be on alert because their information had been turned over to ISIS. Davis Monthan and its A-10 pilots, who have left ISIS trembling abroad, are considered targets for ISIS.