Saudi Ambassador Murder Plot Has Ties To U.S.-Mexico Border
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Federal officials unveiled a criminal complaint accusing an Iranian-American of plotting to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States.
According to the complaint, Manssor Arbabsiar is a 56-year-old Iranian who later became a U.S. citizen. The Associated Press reports that Arbasiar has a home in Corpus Christi, on the Texas coast.
It could not be independently confirmed whether he's actually from that city.
The complaint alleges that Arbabsiar traveled several times into Mexico, where he met with an undercover informant working for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The informant posed as a member of a Mexican drug cartel.
There's no evidence from the complaint that actual cartel members were involved – just that the informant fictitiously acted as a cartel member.
The complaint also does not specify where in Mexico the meetings took place. Some news reports indicate they took place in Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.
The complaint says Arbabsiar paid $100,000 as a down payment toward a $1.5 million fee to assassinate the Saudi ambassador.
Arbabsiar was arrested in New York City on September 29 and was arraigned there on Tuesday. He was ordered held without bail. The Mexican government helped with the investigation.
Authorities are still trying to track down a second suspect named in the investigation, Gholam Shakuri, an Iranian national with alleged ties to government officials in that country.
Messages seeking comment from the DEA and FBI in both Washington and Texas, as well with the Dept. of Justice in Washington, were not returned.
