A 20-year-old California man is in Santa Ana Jail in Orange after federal authorities alleged he was planning to fly to Turkey and join the Islamic State (IS), according to the Orange County Register. Adam Dandach, AKA Fadi Fadi Dandach, lives with his mother in Orange, and FBI investigators assert in documents released to the court that Dandach had stated he would “assist ISIS with anything ISIS asked him to do.”
Dandach was arrested July 2 at John Wayne Airport by federal agents. They asserted that he had plans to take a Delta Airlines flight to Turkey, make his way into Syria, and join ISIS. He was arrested for passport fraud and may face additional charges. His mother and his attorney would not comment.
ISIS is recruiting Americans to join their cause; just last week, three Americans died in Syria as members of the terrorist group. Government officials and experts in terrorist activities estimate that at least 100 Americans have left America and joined foreign terrorist movements overseas in recent years.
Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at Cal State San Bernardino, said, “It’s a relatively small number of people who are committed to doing mass-casualty attacks.” However, he added that the small number still raises grave concern, saying, “so much of it depends on the luck of those who are thoroughly committed to an attack… ISIS really is trying to take advantage of its recruitment effort to get Western youth who can travel freely.”
The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are taking the American jihadi problem seriously, urging law enforcement agencies to keep their eyes open for possible attacks catalyzed by U.S. airstrikes on ISIS. The New York Times reported that intelligence and law enforcement officials said Friday that there are roughly twelve Americans in Syria who have joined ISIS.