A serving United States Navy sailor has been arrested as part of an FBI operation to dismantle an ISIS plot in which one of the suspects expressed a desire to “kill 300 million Americans” and another called for the targeting of US Special Forces — with the trio having paid $2,000 to someone they believed was a terrorist organisation operative to fund drones and rocket-propelled grenades.
Bereen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California, was arrested by the FBI on Friday along with two 21-year-old men — Elias Shamsaldeen, of Porterville, California, and Bisaam Ghafoor, of Leawood, Kansas — the Department of Justice announced. The three had been communicating online for more than a year, during which time they discussed detailed plans to travel overseas to fight for ISIS and expressed willingness to die on the organisation’s behalf.
Dzayee, who had posted a photograph of himself in a Navy uniform on a now-deleted Instagram account, allegedly suggested the group should target US Special Forces. Shamsaldeen told his online associates he wanted to stab and injure a US servicemember. Ghafoor went further, stating he wished he could “kill 300,000,000 Americans,” expressing a desire to behead a female soldier and saying it would be “sick” if his name were written on the drone the group planned to use in an attack, according to the Department of Justice.
Federal agents descended on Dzayee’s family home on a quiet cul-de-sac in Lakeside at around 6am, with tactical officers emerging from a van and surrounding the property as startled neighbours watched from their doorways. Agents spent hours searching the house, the family’s rubbish and the surrounding area, carrying large brown bags of material from the property as officials from the Terrorist Task Force also attended. Dzayee’s parents were spoken to by investigators. One neighbour told NBC 7 she had approached an FBI agent to ask whether the neighbourhood was at risk. “He assured me, ‘No, we’re arresting someone is all we got’,” she said.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said the arrests demonstrated the administration’s commitment to dismantling terrorist networks. “Today’s arrest of three individuals who allegedly conspired to provide material support to ISIS makes clear our commitment to taking down terrorist networks — anywhere,” he said. “Thanks to the vigilance of the FBI, their alleged scheme was dismantled and further acts of violence against US service members were prevented.”
FBI Director Kash Patel described the operation as a success. “These subjects allegedly swore allegiance to ISIS, plotted multiple attacks, and even targeted US service members — but this FBI stopped them cold,” he said. “This shows we’ll stop at nothing to defend Americans from those who seek to do us harm.”
The three men face charges of conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organisation. The case has been filed in Kansas federal court.
