Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

The FBI has arrested three US citizens, including a Navy veteran, on charges of conspiring to provide material support to ISIS.

Getting into it: The three (Bisaam Ghafoor, 21, of Leawood, Kansas; Elias Shamsaldeen, 21, of Porterville, California; and Bareen Dzayee, 25, of Lakeside, California) were taken into custody last weekend on a complaint filed in federal court in Kansas. Prosecutors allege the men collectively sent more than $2,000 in cryptocurrency to a person they believed was a member of ISIS to fund rocket-propelled grenades and drones for an attack on American service members overseas, with Dzayee allegedly suggesting US Special Forces as a target.

The person they thought was an ISIS member turned out to be a federal agent working undercover. The FBI says it identified the men after they posted pro-ISIS content on social media, and that between February 2025 and June 2026 they communicated through Discord chats and voice calls, and swore loyalty to ISIS and its leader.

The complaint also lays out a series of disturbing statements. According to the government, Ghafoor said he had always wanted to behead a female soldier and wrote, “I wish I could kill 300,000,000 Americans,” and prosecutors say his name ended up on an RPG that was supposed to be fired at American troops overseas.

Shamsaldeen allegedly expressed a desire to stab a service member and provided money for the drones.

Notably, Dzayee was a Navy veteran who enlisted in 2021 and served as a seaman aboard the destroyer USS John S. McCain until 2024. He earned the National Defense Service Medal, awarded for participation in the Global War on Terrorism.

In a statement, Attorney General Todd Blanche said the arrests show a commitment to “taking down terrorist networks — anywhere,” and FBI Director Kash Patel said agents “stopped them cold.”

If convicted on all counts, each faces up to 20 years in prison.