Three U.S. citizens arrested in ISIS support plot, DOJ says

Federal investigators say three U.S. citizens built an ISIS support network across Kansas and California, moving money, discussing attacks and exploring drone and RPG purchases to target American servicemembers abroad. The FBI arrested Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, of Leawood, Kansas, Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville, California, and Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California, after a complaint in the District of Kansas accused them of conspiring to provide material support to terrorism.

According to the Justice Department, the men were taken into custody in Kansas City, Kansas, San Diego and Sacramento, California. Prosecutors allege the three collectively provided more than $2,000 to a person they believed was a member of ISIS, and that their communications about support for the group stretched from at least February 2025 to about June 2026.

The complaint says the alleged planning went beyond transfers of cash. Investigators said the men discussed providing personnel, services and money to ISIS, and talked about using cryptocurrency to buy rocket-propelled grenades and drones for an attack on U.S. servicemembers abroad. The Justice Department also said Ghafoor wrote that it would be “sick” if his name could be written on a drone used in an attack on Americans, Dzayee suggested drone targets should include U.S. Special Forces, and Shamsaldeen expressed a desire to stab and injure a U.S. servicemember. Ghafoor also allegedly wrote, “I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans.”

The arrests add to a recent stream of ISIS-related cases in the United States, but this one stands out for the alleged coordination among three American citizens and for the blend of online messaging, cryptocurrency planning and weapons talk aimed at military personnel overseas. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the arrests showed the administration’s commitment to taking down terrorist networks, while FBI Director Kash Patel said the suspects allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS and plotted multiple attacks. Assistant Attorney General John A. Eisenberg said the alleged scheme was intended, among other things, to fund plans to kill American servicemembers abroad.

The charges are allegations, not convictions, but they place the case squarely in the domestic security lane that federal authorities have used for years against ISIS-inspired plots. What prosecutors say unfolded here was not a lone-offender radicalization story, but a multi-state, money-moving, attack-planning case centered on U.S. citizens accused of trying to convert extremist rhetoric into operational support.