Hoboken, New Jersey — The New York Police Department and the FBI foiled an alleged plot to kill a pro-Palestinian activist in New Jersey, according to the woman targeted, law enforcement officials and a criminal complaint revealed Friday in Newark.
At least one person was arrested when law enforcement executed a search warrant at Willow Street and Clinton Street in Hoboken.
Authorities arrested Alexander Hefler on Thursday night on charges of illegal possession and illegal manufacture of firearms and charged him with conspiring to “go after” activist Nerdin Kiswani, co-founder of Within Our Lives, an organizer of several pro-Palestinian protests in New York City.
Keswani was not identified by name in the criminal complaint, but she posted on social media that the FBI had informed her that she was the alleged target.
She pledged in the statement that she would not stop speaking on behalf of the Palestinian people:
An undercover NYPD officer opened the case after the department got to know Heffler online, infiltrated a group chat, developed a relationship and foiled the plot.
Officials say the undercover officer personally witnessed Hefler making the eight Molotov cocktails in Hoboken on Thursday, leading to his arrest.
“Haeffler also told (the undercover officer) that he had an address where they could hide out after they threw the Molotov cocktails” and discussed a plan to leave the country, the complaint said.
Authorities allege the plan was to throw Molotov cocktails at Keswani that night.
Law enforcement believes they have stopped an imminent threat, and the FBI said there is no threat to public safety.
Hoboken Mayor Emily B. Jabour issued a statement on Friday, saying there was “no danger to residents and no ongoing threat.”
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
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