Feds: Former Pitt student threatened FBI agents, celebrated attacks on U.S.

The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Pittsburgh on Wednesday arrested a former University of Pittsburgh student — described as “mentally unstable and attracted to a violent Islamic ideology” — for allegedly threatening agents who were already investigating him.

Khaled Miah, 27, is charged with interstate threatening communications, influencing a federal officer by threat and destruction of records in a federal investigation.

He has a detention hearing scheduled for Friday.

A 30-page affidavit filed initially under seal by the FBI and unsealed Wednesday after Miah was taken into custody lays out a lengthy set of allegations — including claims that he praised the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks; conducted surveillance of an agent’s home repeatedly; talked about armed insurrection; and frequented a Pittsburgh-area shooting range throughout the summer.

“Furthermore, FBI personnel uncovered hundreds of videos, images, documents, communications, and Internet activities dating back several years related to extremist content that advocated for and/or glorified gruesome violence against perceived ideological enemies,” wrote Agent Ahmad Hassanpoor.

Miah was born in Bangladesh and came to the United States with other members of his family on an immigrant visa in March 2003. He derived U.S. citizenship in the summer of 2009, the affidavit said.

Miah was enrolled as an undergraduate student at Pitt until December and lived at a house near the Oakland campus, the FBI said. The arrest paperwork listed his residence on Kittanning Street in Etna.

Although the FBI initially began investigating Miah over a threat they allege he made on YouTube in 2019, the charges against him stem from a Twitter account they say he created in December under the display name “Federal Intelligence Service.”

The account, which was registered to a phone number Miah used, the complaint said, tweeted threats at the FBI agents investigating him.

On Dec. 27, he wrote, “Currently eating pasta and watching videos of the second plane hit the south tower,” according to the complaint.

Then, in another referring to the agents working his case, the complaint said, “Nick, Dave, Mike, the whole bureau, the deed will be done at a time which is the most opportunistic for me, chosen by myself.”

Later that day, the affidavit said, that account tweeted, “the zero hour is approaching.”

The next day, the account tweeted the coordinates for FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. And later that night, it again named agents and wrote, “how’s your investigation going? Things are looking ‘bright’ in 2021. Did you find the Saudi passports?”

On Dec. 30 at 5:43 a.m., the affidavit said, that account posted: “2001-2021 is 20 years. An entire generation, yet men like me still exist and pop up into existence. Next time you come in cowboy with the crew, the hardwood will collapse beneath your feet.”

Hassanpoor wrote in the affidavit that investigators believe that is a threat that the floor at Miah’s residence will collapse “by intention or sabotage” if the agents attempt another search there.

According to the affidavit, the FBI first began investigating Miah in January 2019 when they got a tip that a YouTube user by display name “Blitz Kreig,” had threatened another person on that platform and threatened a potential attack in the United States.

The Blitz Krieg user name, the affidavit said, was traced back to a University of Pittsburgh account belonging to Miah.

During their investigation, the FBI interviewed two of Miah’s siblings, the affidavit said, who told them “he did not get along with most of his family and rarely interacted with them.”

When agents attempted to interview Miah on Sept. 28, the affidavit said, he was “uncooperative, erratic and provocative.”

Later that evening, the affidavit said, Miah went to the Pittsburgh field office and spoke to gate security about wanting to file a complaint for harassment. At the same time, an agent was leaving the property.

That agent saw Miah’s car approach at a fast speed in the lane next to him.

“Miah subsequently made a number of aggressive driving maneuvers in order to cut off another vehicle and pull closely behind the Agent,” the affidavit said.

Ultimately, the document continued, Miah pulled up next to the agent and attempted to take his photo.

The next day, a person identified as “Supervisory Special Agent A” in the affidavit contacted Miah who agreed to speak to the agents at the Pittsburgh field office.

The supervisor, along with “Special Agent A” and “Task Force Officer B” met Miah outside the front gate, the affidavit said, and after the interview, Miah left.

Around Oct. 8, the FBI discovered that Miah had altered a profile photo on one of his Twitter accounts to depict the wife of “Special Agent A,” the affidavit said.

“The biographical information on Miah’s account was also modified to include the actual place of work of Victim A, her educational background, and her approximate age, hair color, religion, and original hometown in the United States, as well as crude and sexual comments related to Special Agent A and Victim A,” the FBI wrote.

Agents seized several electronic devices during a search of Miah’s residence on Oct. 9 and found that he had conducted dozens of searches about the agents who had previously questioned him.

He also sent photographs of the Special Agent A and his wife to an associate on WhatsApp.

The affidavit also alleged that Miah did reconnaissance on multiple occasions at the agent’s residence — including, on the morning of Nov. 6, when he drove around the agent’s apartment building and parked at a cemetery across the street for 10 minutes.

That same evening, Miah drove to Washington, D.C., where he spent several hours driving around and parking near major landmarks, including the U.S. Capitol Building and the White House, according to the complaint.

He then returned to Pittsburgh and again went in the vicinity of Special Agent A’s home.

The affidavit also said Miah drove in the immediate vicinity of the FBI Pittsburgh field office on East Carson Street at least 11 times between Nov. 1 and Jan. 3, even though, it said, it is not within the typical routes he travels

During the summer, the FBI said, Miah frequented a Pittsburgh-area shooting range, renting both rifles and pistols. He practiced shooting on numerous occasions between June 30 and Sept. 28, the affidavit said.

In his cloud account, the affidavit said the FBI found images of homemade explosives, including drawings, as well as images of weapons.

Agents also found in searches of Miah’s electronics dozens of photographs and videos taken of unsuspecting females in public and private settings. His internet search history also includes searches related to “voyeurism and hidden cameras embedded in household items,” the complaint said.

The FBI said that Miah used multiple Twitter accounts and email addresses.

On one of the accounts, Miah wrote about the Islamic faith. On May 31, 2018, he wrote, “‘The last hour will not come until you fight the Jews, you [sic] the [sic] the east of the river and they to the west, until [sic] the trees and stones cry out, ‘O Muslim O servant of Allah, there is a jew behind me come and slaughter him’-Sahih Al Bkhari [sic]. The river is the border of Jordan/Israel[.]’ The Tweet was accompanied by a map of Jordan and its bordering countries in the Middle East,” the affidavit said.

Later that day, he tweeted, “’The greatest transaction to take place on Allah’s earth is the exchange of 19 for 2,997.’ The FBI assesses that Miah used this Tweet to express support for the aforementioned terrorist attacks coordinated and carried out by al-Qaeda, a designated foreign terrorist organization, against multiple targets in the United States on September 11, 2001.”

A long-time associate of Miah’s described him to the FBI as “mentally unstable and attracted to a violent Islamic ideology.”

Miah, that person told the agents, praised the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 as well as the Pulse Nightclub attack in Orlando in 2016.

“Miah also expressed approval for the use of rape against non-Muslims,” the affidavit said.

Over the summer, the agents said, Miah traveled to Boston, New York and Washington, D.C., and laid out an itinerary in Boston including several landmarks relevant to the marathon bombing, including where it took place, where the attackers had a shootout with the police and a gym where one of them trained.