FISHERS, Ind. (WTHR) — The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, announced today that a federal grand jury has charged brothers Moyad Dannon, 21, and Mahde Dannon, 20, both of Fishers.
They're facing one count of attempting to provide material support and resources, including firearms, to the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (“ISIS”), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The brothers have been in federal custody since their arrest on May 15.
This indictment is the result of a months-long investigation led by the FBI Indianapolis’ Joint Terrorism Task Force with assistance from the Fishers, Indiana, Police Department.
Between July 2018 and December 2018, the Dannon brothers sold a number of illegally-obtained firearms to a person who was cooperating with the FBI.
The Dannon brothers also began to manufacture untraceable “ghost guns” by purchasing unserialized firearms parts online and assembling those parts into fully-functioning, .223 caliber, semi-automatic and fully-automatic rifles, which they sold to the FBI undercover agent.
On May 15, 2019, Mahde and Moyad Dannon manufactured five untraceable, fully-automatic, .223 caliber rifles from parts they had purchased online. At that time, the Dannon brothers were fully aware that the plan was to send the five automatic rifles overseas to ISIS.
After building the fully-automatic rifles, the Dannon brothers sold all five weapons to undercover FBI agents posing as employees of the buyer from near the southwest border. Almost immediately thereafter, the Dannon brothers were arrested by the FBI.
“This case is the first of its kind for the Federal Bureau of Investigation where you have individuals allegedly making guns to sell and/or send overseas to ISIS,” said Grant Mendenhall, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Division. “This indictment paints a vivid picture of the rapid rise of homegrown violent extremism and the lengths people are willing to go to in their support of terrorist activity.”
The Dannon brothers face a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment on each of the firearms charges, and a maximum of 20 years’ imprisonment on the attempt to provide material support to ISIS charge.