Unsolved Murder Shakeel Khan Johnson City NY was Taliban Payback Assassination Shakeel Khan was CIA in Pakistan Now $5 Mill Reward for Info on Hitman.

Newsflash for the media in Binghamton NY the murder of restaurant owner Shakeel Khan was not a botched robbery or a hate crime because he was a Muslim. The murder of Shakeel Khan owner of Halal Bites Rest on Riverside Dr Johnson City NY was a Taliban payback assassination on March 30, 2019 at  about 10pm. Shakeel Khan was a CIA asset in the SWAT Valley Pakistan where he "openly" politically worked against the Pakistan now there is a $5 Mill Reward for info that leads to an arrest from the US Rewards for Justice program. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), including its factions active in the Swat region, has historically been involved in acts of terrorism against United States interests, including directing and facilitating a failed bombing attempt in Times Square New York City in 2010 ( Faisal Shahzad). Shakeel Khan was working against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the SWAT Region of Pakistan where he lived, he is a hero. Back on November 9th, 2020 I wrote, FBI now offering a $50,000 reward for info on who murdered Shakeel Khan outside his Halal Bites restaurant on Riverside Drive Johnson City NY on Saturday night March 30th, 2019 at about 10:00 pm. Detectives are looking for at least one male suspect of unknown race who was wearing dark clothing and a dark mask over his face. Interestingly the FBI confirms what I first said that his murder was a "targeted hit", an assassination. FBI claims Shakeel Khan was killed execution style in their recent poster, no money was taken, not a robbery. Not often that the FBI gets involved with a local murder, the case must have some interstate or international connection with the assassins, and true to form I was right.

Leading up to the unsolved murder of Shakeel Khan on March 30th, 2019 at about 10pm as he was closing up his Halal Bites Rest on Riverside Dr Johnson City NY his assassins had a perfect spot to watch him and do surveillance from right across the street in a paved parking lot, under the interstate overpass, where no one would bother them. There is also quick access available out of the area on the nearby interstate highway. Note* the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist organization has a strong hold in the NY-NJ-CONN area with multiple arrests of wanna be terrorist bombers like Faisal Shahzad a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1st, 2010 Times Square car bombing, the TTP financed and backed him.

Back on Friday April 5th, 2019, NY STATE POLICE MAJOR CRIMES UNIT to assist Johnson City NY police detectives in unsolved murder of Muslim Rest. owner Shakeel Khan. JC cops are receiving help from New York State Police investigators in the effort to find the man or men who killed a village restaurant owner. Police Chief Brent Dodge said "a lot of manpower" is being employed in the effort to determine who shot Shakeel Khan as he closed his Riverside Drive business Saturday night. Dodge said the state police major crimes unit, along with its computer crimes and forensic investigators are providing assistance. Not very often that the owner of a restaurant is shot and killed while closing up and no money was taken, Shakeel Khan was shot multiple times to make sure he was dead, this was a hit. The crew that murdered Shakeel Khan in Johnson City NY on March 30th, 2019 were not locals, most like out of Elizabeth NJ.

It appears to me two or more people conspired to murder Shakeel Khan, rumor mill says hit-men from New Jersey. Most Likely a 3 man team, a driver, a spotter, and a shooter. There had to be surveillance of the restaurant by the assassins, inside and out, they would have watched him close up and know his car in the parking lot in several dry runs. I would estimate someone drove the masked man dressed all in black to the hit, waited and provided a quick get away for the shooter once Khan was down, this was planned. Mr Khan came to the U.S. specifically Brooklyn, New York in 2002 or 2003 (after 9/11 attack) depends n who you believe, from the SWAT region of Pakistan (he most likely CIA asset) and moved to Johnson City Broome County NY in 2017, two years later he was murdered in 2019.

The Rewards for Justice program does not offer $5 million dollar rewards for info on murders of ordinary citizens, Shakeel Khan was a CIA asset in Pakistan. I have been involved with the US Rewards for Justice program in Florida, I know how it works and who it rewards and why. Most very likely Shakeel Khan had been or was a paid and protected Federal Confidential Informant (CI) of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Pakistan prior to the 9/11/2001 terror attacks, he shows up in Brooklyn NY in 2002 or 2003, depends on who you believe. 

On March 23, 2023 The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, which is administered by the US Diplomatic Security Service, is offering a reward of up to $5 million for certain information leading to the arrest or conviction in any country of any individual, who committed, attempted or conspired to commit, or aided or abetted in the commission of the murder of Shakeel Khan, this generally never happens for ordinary citizens of the USA, unless they link to major cases in the middle east like Shakeel Khan so obviously did as a CIA asset in the SWAT Valley Pakistan, Taliban country when Shakeel Khan lived there. This guy was a hero who worked for US intelligence while living in Pakistan,

Shakeel Khan, a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was murdered outside his place of employment in Johnson City, New York on March 30, 2019 at around 10pm. Shakeel Khan, a native of the Swat region in Pakistan (Taliban country), was openly involved in political activities opposing the terrorist organization Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) (the Taliban) in that country. No one on their own would go up against the Taliban in the SWAT Valley their home base like Shakeel Khan did unless you had CIA backing. Shakeel Khan was a CIA asset, he was a hero! Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a conglomerate of violent insurgent groups operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan that seek to overthrow the state of Pakistan. Taliban Pakistan (TTP)  has been based in the SWAT Region of Pakistan for decades. Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is a conglomerate of around 40 tribal and non-tribal Pakistani militant groups fighting against the state of Pakistan and the U.S.-led coalition forces. TTP had previously fought in Afghanistan alongside with both the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and the TTP group has maintained close ties to both organizations since, and Shakeel Khan went up against them in the SWAT Valley Pakistan!

The Swat region of Pakistan was under effective control of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from roughly 2000 to 2009. During this time, militants led by Maulana Fazlullah enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia law, targeting girls' schools, banning media, and performing public executions in what residents termed "Khooni Chowk". The retaking of Green Chowk Pakistan in the SWAT Valley could have serious symbolic value. Residents nicknamed it "khooni chowk" or "bloody intersection" because the militants would leave their victims' bodies there some decapitated, some killed in other brutal fashions. The dead often were left hanging from trees. Some had notes attached that accused the victims of spying and told local residents not to move the bodies until specified times. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force are investigating the murder of Shakeel Khan, who was a Pakistani native fo the Swat Valley Pakistan. In November 2020, the FBI issued a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the murder. 

Murdered restaurant owner Shakell Khan in Johnson City NY (March 2019) could have been a influential member of the ANP political party when he lived in the Swat Valley Pakistan and 'openly' politically opposed the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Awami National Party (ANP) is a secular, Pashtun-nationalist party that has historically held a significant, often embattled presence in Swat, Khyber Pakistan. It spearheaded opposition to the Taliban insurgency (2007-2009) but faced severe militant backlash, resulting in numerous targeted assassinations of its leaders, such as the 2025 attack on Mumtaz Ali Khan. Mumtaz Ali Khan, a senior Awami National Party (ANP) leader which controls the provincial government in Swat, Pakistan survived a remote-controlled bomb attack on his vehicle in Matta on November 12, 2025. He is the son of the late ANP leader Muzaffar Ali Khan, who was killed in a 2011 grenade attack. The attack was attributed to militants, with a spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Swat chapter, Omar Hassan Ahrabi, later claiming responsibility. The Khan family has faced persistent targeting by Taliban TPP militants in Pakistan, which aim to silence secular resistance through fear and intimidation.

In 2008 Muzaffar Ali Khan's brother, Mukhtiar Ali Khan, and his son, Aftab Ali Khan, were killed by Taliban militants. Zahid Khan, the head of the Swat Qaumi Jirga [council] and an outspoken opponent of the Taliban, was also one of the victims of the bloody Taliban campaign. Khan was shot in the head on August 4, 2012 while returning from evening prayers. Was Shakeel Khan's murder in Johnson City NY linked to all of this, he was there, and he did politically oppose the Taliban in the Swat Valley of Pakistan? Was Shakeel Khan ANP?

Times Square Bomb Plot: Faisal Shahzad a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1st, 2010 Times Square car bombing, was arrested after he had boarded Emirates Flight 202 to Dubai UAE. On June 21, 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan Faisal Shahzad confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) financed and backed Faisal Shahzad. In upstate NY, Shakeel Khan was murdered in Johnson City NY in 2019, he was a native of the Swat region in Pakistan (Taliban country). Shakeel Khan was openly involved in political activities opposing the terrorist organization Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The terrorist organization Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) sponsored Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-American who lived in Connecticut, to undertake an attack in New York City’s Times Square on May 1, 2010. 

In July 2010, video footage emerged of Faisal Shahzad embracing Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Pakistan’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, told reporters that Faisla Shahzad “visited Pakistan seven times and he met Hakimullah Mehsud and also met other leaders of the TTP, those so-called leaders of the Taliban.” I do not think the media in Johnson City -Binghamton - Broome County NY has any idea how big a deal the assassination of Shakeel Khan is! The TTP operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and has historically maintained, through its alliance with Al-Qaeda, an interest in targeting U.S. interests. Intelligence has sometimes highlighted connections between TTP militants in the region and individuals in the New York/New Jersey/Connecticut area, often involving, "homegrown" radicals. In December 2009, Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad received explosives training in Waziristan, Pakistan, from explosive trainers affiliated with Tehrik-e-Taliban (TPP), a militant extremist group based in Pakistan. On Feb. 25, 2010, Shahzad received approximately $5,000 in cash in Massachusetts sent from a co-conspirator (CC-1) in Pakistan whom Shahzad understood worked for Tehrik-e-Taliban (TPP). Approximately six weeks later, on April 10, 2010, Shahzad received an additional $7,000 in cash in Ronkonkoma, N.Y., which was also sent at CC-1's direction.

The reward offer from RFJ is in addition to the FBI’s reward offer and seeks information that would assist the FBI in identifying those responsible for Khan’s murder. More information about this reward offer is located on the Rewards for Justice website at www.rewardsforjustice.net. Anyone with information on those responsible for the murder of Shakeel Khan should contact Rewards for Justice via Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at +1-202-702-7843. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

I have knowledge of how the US State Dept Rewards for Justice program works. I have known only one other case where a man who was a legal resident of America and got involved with a CIA terrorist investigation in the Middle East and ended up dead or kidnapped had a $5 Million Dollar Reward offered for information on how he was kidnapped, or how he was killed, or who killed him. Shakeel Khan in Johnson City NY is one of the men, the other man is former FBI agent and private investigator Robert "Bob" Levinson from Florida who disappeared while in Iran investigating a cigarette smuggling case, most likely at the request of the CIA. In March 2020, U.S. government officials and his family announced the conclusion that Robert "Bob" Levinson most likely died while in Iranian custody. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $5 Million Dollars for information leading to the location, recovery, and return of retired FBI agent Robert "Bob" Levinson, who disappeared in Kish Island, Iran, on March 9, 2007. In addition, the U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice program offers up to $20 million, bringing the potential total to $25 million for information on Robert "Bob" Levinson's case.


Sarasota Private Investigator Bill Warner, True Crime Stories, Bill Warner Investigations Sarasota Fl.