FISHERS, Ind. — Two Fishers brothers were sentenced to over 35 years combined after manufacturing and distributing machine guns for ISIS.
Moyad Dannon, 25, was sentenced to 200 months, equivalent to 16 years and eight months in federal prison followed by a lifetime of supervised release. He pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support for resources, namely, firearms to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
His brother, Mahde Dannon was sentenced to 20 years in prison in October 2021 after pleading guilty to the same charges.
“The defendants in this case fused together two grave threats to Americans’ security by attempting to support a brutal terrorist organization through the illicit manufacture of ghost guns,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco. “Just as we’ve done in the fight against terrorism, the Justice Department is committed to prevention — stopping gun violence before it happens by cracking down on the illegal production and trafficking of ghost guns.”
“The defendant showed an absolute disregard for the rule of law and is being held accountable for his actions,” said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. “Working with his brother, the defendant produced large caches of privately made firearms and attempted to place them in the hands of ISIS members overseas to be used against U.S. service members and allies. The FBI and our partners worked tirelessly to prevent the weapons from reaching their intended destination, and ensured these defendants faced justice for their attempts to support a foreign terrorist organization. We will continue to aggressively investigate anyone who tries to help terrorists and endangers the lives of others.”
According to court documents, in June 2018, the Dannon brothers devised a scheme to deliver stolen firearms to a convicted felon who was cooperating with the FBI.
Between July and December 2018, the Dannon brothers sold several illegally obtained firearms to the cooperating individual.
Around the same time, the brothers also began manufacturing untraceable “ghost guns” by purchasing firearms parts online and assembling those parts into fully-functioning, .223 caliber semi-automatic rifles, which they sold to an FBI undercover agent.
In late 2018, the Dannon brothers also manufactured untraceable, fully automatic, .223 caliber rifles using the same process. These were sold to the undercover agent and confidential informant.
Shortly after, Moyad Dannon went with an undercover agent near the U.S. southwest border to sell the rifles to a potential buyer who was also cooperating with the FBI.
During the trip, Moyad Dannon learned the “potential buyer” sought to ship the weapons to the Middle East where they would be used by ISIS. ISIS is a designated foreign terrorist organization pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Despite learning of the ultimate destination, the Dannon brothers agreed to manufacture and sell at least 55 additional fully automatic “ghost guns” to the buyer from the American southwest border, believing those weapons would be shipped to the Middle East, to ISIS and its members.
On May 5, 2019, the Dannon brothers manufactured five untraceable and fully automatic rifles from parts they purchased online. They were also fully aware the plan was to send the rifles overseas to ISIS.
After finishing the weapons, all five were sold to undercover FBI agents posing as employees of the buyer from near the southwest border. The Dannon brothers were arrested immediately thereafter by the FBI.
Between February and May 2019, Moyad Dannon had numerous and extensive conversations with an undercover agent who he believed was a member of ISIS then fighting in Syria. During the conversations, he expressed a desire to travel from Indiana to ISIS-controlled areas where he wanted to utilize knowledge of firearms in assistance to ISIS in its fight against the United States and Syrian government.
FBI agents said they also located a flash drive containing approximately 16 gigabytes of ISIS propaganda, including graphically violent videos depicting ISIS fighters beheading civilians and hostages, and ISIS snipers killing U.S. military personnel.
The FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Fishers, Indiana, Police Department investigated the case.
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