Murder-for-Hire: How a Pakistani banker allegedly hired US agents to assassinate US officials

Pakistani national Asif Merchant, with alleged ties to Iran, has been charged in an attempted murder-to-hire plot by a US federal court in New York. Merchant's version of events is not available.

According to court documents, the accused was allegedly planning to carry out assassinations of US politicians and officials. To execute the plan, he contacted hitmen in New York, who were undercover law enforcement officers.

The Pakistani foreign office has responded to media reports cautiously. “We are in touch with the US authorities and await further details. We have also noted the statements by US officials that this is an ongoing investigation. Before giving our formal reaction, we also need to be sure of the antecedents of the individual in question.”

The US media claimed that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and other current and former US government officials were the intended targets of the plot.

The White House however denies the claim, saying there was no connection between Merchant and the assassination attempt on Trump last month.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the plot "is straight out of the Iranian playbook."

According to a statement of the investigating Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent, Merchant’s plan was more likely to have been linked to retaliation for a US drone strike in January 3,2020, which killed the commander of Iran’s Quds force, Qassem Soleimani.

In his deposition, the investigating agent said that Merchant's plot was allegedly three-pronged - stealing documents or a USB drive from a target, a protest to create a distraction and killing a politician or government official.

Deposition of FBI agentSource: US district court document

The code word for the plot was 'yarn-dyeing business'.

Deposition of FBI agentSource: US District court document

Official documents further reveal that although the accused was a resident of Karachi he told investigators he has a wife and children in Iran, and a separate family in Pakistan.

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Who is Asif Raza Merchant?

From documents obtained by Nukta, Asif Reza Merchant is a Karachi resident who worked at the Bank of Punjab as a branch manager for eleven years before taking leave in 2019. Earlier, he briefly worked at the NIB Bank as an operations manager.

He has a Masters degree from Newport Institute of Commerce and Economics in Karachi, where he was running the sports club, according to his LinkedIn profile. Merchant visited Syria, Iran and Iraq several times, according to travel documents.

Asif Raza MerchantSource: LinkedIn

Interestingly, in November last year, an Indian national allegedly hired a US drug enforcement agent in an alleged plan to kill a Sikh separatist in New York. American Activist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. In that murder-to-hire scheme the Indian national paid $15,000 dollars as an advance payment. Like the Asif Merchant plan, this plot too was foiled.