The US authorities arrested two men who spent thousands of dollars trying to influence and get close to a number of members of the forces responsible for protecting and securing senior officials and their families in the country.
An affidavit submitted to a US District Court included the accusation of Ariane Taherzadeh, 40, and Haider Ali, 36, of impersonating employees of the Department of Homeland Security.
FBI officials said that the two men resorted to this ploy to get close to four members of the Secret Service, one of whom worked on First Lady Jill Biden’s security team.
Officials said the clients were given a holiday ahead of an investigation.
In a statement received by the BBC, an intelligence spokesman said the four guards would “be denied access to intelligence facilities, equipment and equipment” while the investigation continued.
According to the affidavit, filed by federal prosecutors on Wednesday, Tahirzadeh and Haider Ali purchased thousands of dollars worth of equipment and services for the four guards and another DHS agent, “rent-free apartments — annual rent exceeds more than $40,000 — iPhones and systems.” Surveillance, drone, modern TV screen, gun holster, generator and law enforcement tools.”
The two men also showed one of the guards – who served on the team protecting President Joe Biden’s wife – an assault rifle valued at $2,000.
Investigators said the two men began impersonating federal agents around February 2020, in the final months of the Trump administration.
The two men also spent thousands getting pistols, rifles, and other items to appear as DHS employees, often offering guards the use of vehicles he said belonged to the government.
Tahirzadeh also sent guards pictures of himself wearing bulletproof vests while working at the Department of Homeland Security and a picture he claimed was from a training seminar, but which has already been pulled from a social media site.
However, an investigation was launched into the two men last month following a US Postal Service official responded to a report of an assault on a delivery worker.
The residents told the investigator in the attack that Tahirzadeh and Ali Haidar had introduced themselves to them as special agents of the Ministry of Internal Security.
The two claimed to be “special police” officers conducting clandestine investigations into gangs related to the attack on the US Capitol.
Residents told the investigator that the men used several apartments in the building and claimed to have set up surveillance cameras throughout the compound.
After the investigator learned that they were related to Secret Service agents, he forwarded this information to the Department of Homeland Security, which notified the FBI. According to the affidavit, the two men will appear in court on Thursday in Washington.
