Indian-origin teen charged with threatening to kill Biden, Harris
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 May, 2023 11:33 AM
ew York, May 23 (IANS) An Indian-origin teen has been charged with threatening to kill President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in order to "seize power", according to media reports quoting officials.
Sai Varshith Kandula, 19, allegedly rammed a rented truck into White House House barriers on Monday night.
ABC News said that according to police he was charged with "threatening to kill, kidnap or inflict harm on a President, Vice President or their families".
The network reported that three law enforcement sources confirmed that Kandula told law enforcement that "he wanted to seize power, take over the government and kill the president".
Officials were also looking into the "mental health component" of the attack, it added.
Kandula may have neo-Nazi sympathies, according to media reports.
WUSA9 TV station reported that a Nazi flag was removed from the vehicle.
NBC News said that the charges of threatening to kill, kidnap or harm the President, Vice President or a relative stemmed from his statements to the Secret Service, the agency that protects the President and other VIPs.
Secret Service Spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that shortly before 10.00 p.m., officers "detained the driver of a box truck after the vehicle collided with security barriers on the north side of Lafayette Square at 16th Street".
NBC News reported that a robot was used to examine the truck for explosives but none were found.
There were no injuries to anyone in the incident and it was not known if Biden or Harris were at the White House at that time.
Biden had held talks with Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the White House on averting a financial crisis by raising the borrowing limits for the US government to avoid a default.
Kandula, who is from Chesterfield in Missouri state, flew to Washington and rested the truck at the airport.
Three Indian-origin members of an organised crime group have been jailed for smuggling cannabis worth around 1 million pounds into the UK from Canada. Kuran Gill, Jag Singh and Govind Bahia, all in their 30s, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import a 'class B' drug and were sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court.
Sixteen people, including several men and women of Indian descent, have been convicted after a major investigation into a West London-based organised crime group involved in international money laundering and human smuggling, UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Members of the network smuggled in excess of GBP 42 million in cash out of the UK, making hundreds of trips to Dubai and the UAE between 2017 and 2019.
Khan's arrest came a day after the military warned him against making "baseless allegations" after he again accused a senior army officer of plotting to kill him, The Express Tribune reported.
Rajesh Motibhai Patel, 68, was indicted last week on multiple counts of violating his patients' constitutional right to bodily integrity while acting under colour of law and for engaging in unwanted sexual contact, a Department of Justice release said.
Although WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted Friday's declaration "does not mean COVID-19 is over," many people will likely interpret it that way, said Dr. Allison McGeer, infectious diseases specialist and microbiologist at Sinai Health Systems in Toronto.
Amandeep Singh, 34, was driving his 2019 Dodge Ram south in the northbound lanes on North Broadway in Jericho on Wednesday when he smashed into a 2019 Alfa Romeo four-door sedan with four male teens inside. While two teens -- identified as Drew Hassenbein and Ethan Falkowitz -- were pronounced dead at the scene, the other two, aged 16 and 17, were taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries.
