Homeland Security Conman Haider Ali, Arrested With Arian Taherzadeh, Alleged Ties With Pakistan, Feds Say

Prosecutors say one of the two Homeland Security agents tricked Secret Service agents into accepting lavish gifts and a penthouse boasting about his ties to Pakistan’s intelligence services. prosecutors said during Thursday’s hearing.

Arian Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36, were arrested Wednesday night when police stormed the Crossing Apartments in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, DC. They were charged with impersonating a federal officer.

The FBI alleges the pair spent two years posing as Homeland Security agents working on gang-related investigations and other high-profile jobs. They carried official identification and laptops, drove black SUVs with flashing lights, wore the same gloves issued to federal officers, and became friendly with some agents. to the point where agents accept invitations to live in apartments at Crossing Apartments for free.

Taherzadeh and Ali have taken over several apartments in Crossings, a building popular with federal law enforcement officers and self-styled residents as “hunters” for anything, an individual. Secret Service agent Jill Biden’s details later told the FBI, according to the affidavit.

FBI

At least four Secret Service agents and one DHS employee were released into a “free-to-rent apartment (with a total annual rent of more than $40,000 per unit), iPhones, surveillance systems, an airplane drones, a flat-screen television, a case archive of an FBI attack said.

Taherzadeh and Ali also appear to have been closely monitoring Crossings, and when police raided their apartment Wednesday, they allegedly found a notebook listing every occupant in the building along with guns. , respirators, tactical gear, hardware drivers, servers, a drone, and training manuals from the Department of Homeland Security and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, ABC News reported.

But the unsealed affidavit in federal court Wednesday night did not provide any information about the why Taherzadeh and Ali took such a long time to get to know federal officers.

Prosecutors made a possible hint during the first hearing on Thursday afternoon, noting that Ali had previously mentioned to two witnesses that he had connections to the spy agency. Pakistan’s main agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Service. Prosecutors said his passport also contained old Pakistani and Iranian visas, according to Fox News.

Relations with Pakistan were not mentioned in any of the incriminating documents, and prosecutors noted that they had not verified Ali’s claims.

A judge has allowed the couple to obtain court-appointed attorneys ahead of Friday’s remand hearing. Ali told the judge, “I have no money,” Fox News reported.

The couple’s alleged scheme was foiled when a USPS postal worker was assaulted while delivering mail to Crossings on March 14. Residents told USPS Inspectors that Taherzadeh and Ali had the ability. witnessed the attack.

But when inspectors interviewed Taherzadeh and Ali, the men who said they were part of a special police force within the Department of Homeland Security did not actually exist. The inspector debunked the DHS inspector general, who referred the matter to the FBI.

The Secret Service said on Thursday that four unidentified secret service agents engaged by Taherzadeh and Ali have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.