Two men posed as DHS agents and forged relationships with four Secret Service employees. Then, it became clear that the men were being investigated for possible connections to Iranian intelligence, specifically the Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Investigators claim that Arian Taherzadeh (40) and Haider Ali (35), posed as different officers and employees of U.S. government agencies since February 2020. They also provided perks and gifts to Secret Service agents, including one assigned to Jill Biden’s protection detail.
Investigators aren’t certain if the agents hacked their conversations, but they have since evacuated the apartment.
Although the end game of fraudsters remains elusive, the ties to IRGC suggest that terrorism is a real possibility.
Prosecutors claimed that Ali admitted to witnesses that he was connected to the Pakistani Intelligence Service. The government has yet not confirmed this. Prosecutors claimed that Ali’s passport contained three “older” Pakistani visas, as well as two Iranian visas dating back to January 2020. Prosecutors stated that Ali’s Iranian visa indicated that Ali had entered the country at some time, but they didn’t specify when.
Although the government indicated that they were having difficulty locating Taherzadeh’s exact address, signs indicate that he is a U.S citizen.
A criminal complaint was unsealed Wednesday night following the raid on an apartment complex in Washington, D.C. The duo allegedly acquired paraphernalia, handguns, and assault rifles that were used by federal law enforcement agencies. According to the FBI, the duo used false affiliations with the U.S. government to “intimidate themselves with members of federal police and the defense community” through gifts and favors for residents of an apartment complex, many of which were employees of the FBI Secret service and Department of Homeland Security and Defense.
Two men are accused of giving the Secret Service members a rent-free luxury apartment, “iPhones,” surveillance systems, a drone and a flat-screen TV, a case to store an assault rifle, a generator and other paraphernalia.
The FBI seized “ballistic vests,” zip ties and handcuffs as well as radios, radios, radios, a drone and DHS patches on clothing and vests. Training manuals and surveillance equipment were also among the items confiscated in the raid.
In support of criminal charges, confidential witnesses claimed that the men used fake government email addresses and claimed they had government-issued vehicles. They also claimed to have access through their jobs as law enforcement to all residents of the apartment complex.
According to the charges, the pair allegedly recruited an individual for a DHS/HSI fraud position. The applicant had to be “shot with an Airsoft rifle in order to assess their pain tolerance and response,” the documents state.
This was not a con, as the Secret Service agents didn’t pay for it. The fact that so many of these gifts were high-dollar items strongly suggests that a foreign government is behind the scheme.
It’s likely that the men were involved in terrorist plotting if they had connections to the Quds force. Famous for assassination squads that kill Iranian dissidents overseas, the Quds Force is well-known. The Quds force was also responsible in the death of many Americans in Iraq. Their commander, General Qasem Solimani, was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans and dissidents from several countries. He was then assassinated in 2020 by a U.S. drone attack.
