Fishers brothers tried to sell 'ghost' machine guns to ISIS. Instead they're in federal prison

Two brothers from Fishers have been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to charges of trying to make and sell machine guns to ISIS in 2019, according to the FBI.  

Moyad Dannon, 25, received 16 years and eight months in federal prison on Thursday followed by a lifetime of supervised release after pleading guilty to providing resources to a foreign terrorist organization. His brother, Mahde Dannon, 24, was sentenced in 2021 to 20 years in prison for the same charges.  

In a statement about the sentences, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said the brothers “fused together” two grave threats posed to the United States today: Terrorist organizations and illegal firearms.  

"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,” Monaco’s statement said.  

According to court documents, the brothers began manufacturing fully automatic .223 caliber rifles in 2018 and selling them to an undercover agent. Moyad Dannon later accompanied the agent to the southwest border of the U.S. to market the rifle to a potential buyer who was working with the FBI.

Investigators in a federal complaint stated Moyad Dannon learned the buyer wanted to ship the weapons to the Middle East, where they’d be used by ISIS. 

Despite learning of their ultimate use and destination of the weapons, a news release from the FBI said, the brothers made and tried to sell 55 more fully automatic “ghost guns” to the buyer under the belief the weapons would be shipped overseas to be used by the designated terrorist organization.  

For several months throughout the following year, investigators said Moyad Dannon expressed numerous times to an undercover agent his desire to travel from Indiana to ISIS-controlled areas of Syria to provide his knowledge of firearms and assist in the fight against the United States.  

The case culminated in May of 2019, when the brothers are said in court records to have made five untraceable .223 caliber rifles and sold all of them to undercover agents. FBI agents then took the Dannon brothers into custody.  

Contact Sarah Nelson at 317-503-7514 or sarah.nelson@indystar.com