Federal agents arrested three U.S. citizens Friday morning on charges that they sent money to ISIS and mapped out drone and rocket attacks targeting American servicemembers — including one defendant who allegedly wrote he wanted to kill 300 million Americans, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday.
Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, of Leawood, Kansas; Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville, California; and Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California, were each taken into custody by the FBI — in Kansas City, San Diego, and Sacramento — and charged in federal court in Kansas with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS.
The three men pooled more than $2,000 and sent it to a person they believed was an ISIS operative, according to a criminal complaint filed in the District of Kansas. Over more than a year of encrypted chats, voice calls, and messaging app exchanges — from at least February 2025 through approximately June 2026 — they pledged allegiance to ISIS, discussed traveling overseas to fight for the group, and talked in explicit terms about killing U.S. troops.
Ghafoor allegedly said it would be “sick” if his name were written on a drone used to strike Americans. Prosecutors say it was eventually written on the projectile of a rocket-propelled grenade earmarked for an overseas attack on U.S. servicemembers. He also allegedly wrote that he had always wanted to kill a female soldier by beheading and added: “I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans.”
Dzayee allegedly proposed U.S. Special Forces as targets for drone strikes. Shamsaldeen allegedly contributed money toward purchasing drones and, in separate messages, said he wanted to stab a U.S. servicemember.
“These subjects allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS, plotted multiple attacks, and even targeted U.S. service members — but this FBI stopped them cold,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the case showed the administration’s resolve. “Their alleged scheme was dismantled and further acts of violence against U.S. service members were prevented,” he said.
The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces in Kansas City, San Diego, and Sacramento led the investigation, with support from field offices in Richmond and Newark. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Scott Rask and Michelle MacFarlane for the District of Kansas, along with trial attorneys from the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section, are prosecuting the case.
All three defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
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