Three US nationals arrested on charges of allegedly conspiring to provide material support to ISIS
Article excerpt
The Department of Justice announced that three U.S. citizens were arrested on charges of allegedly plotting to finance ISIS‘s terrorist operations against U.S. service members. Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, of Leawood, Kansas; Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville, California; and Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California, were arrested early Friday by the FBI over an alleged plan […]
The Department of Justice announced that three U.S. citizens were arrested on charges of allegedly plotting to finance ISIS‘s terrorist operations against U.S. service members.
Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, of Leawood, Kansas; Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville, California; and Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California, were arrested early Friday by the FBI over an alleged plan to hatch a cryptocurrency scheme to buy RPGs and drones for the purpose of financially supporting terrorism. All three men allegedly expressed a willingness to die for the ISIS cause and collectively donated over $2,000 to a person they believed to be a member of ISIS.
The complaint details various disturbing messaging exchanges, with Ghafoor saying it would be “sick” if his name could be written on the drone used in an attack on Americans, while Shamsaldeen “expressed a desire to stab and injure a U.S. servicemember.”
“I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans,” said Gahfoor, according to the DOJ release.
The cases were investigated by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in Kansas City, the San Diego field office, and the Sacramento field Office, with assistance from FBI personnel in Richmond and Newark.
“According to the complaint, these defendants conspired to support ISIS, a ruthless terrorist organization, with the intent, among other things, to fund plans to kill American servicemembers abroad,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said in the release. “Thanks to the work of the FBI, their plans to betray their country in the gravest way lies in ruin. Instead, these defendants will face justice in our courts.”
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Filed in the District of Kansas, the complaint alleges the three men communicated about plans to support ISIS from February 2025 to June 2026, with each of the coconspirators pledging their allegiance to ISIS and their desire to use violence to further the terrorist group’s aims. Ghafoor had his name written on the projectile of a rocket-propelled grenade, while Shamsaldeen donated money for drones that were to be deployed against U.S. service members overseas.
The case comes not long after an Iranian national living in the San Fernando Valley was arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging her with selling Iranian-made weapons to Sudan. The woman was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport before she could book a flight out of the United States in April.