Two American brothers arrested in $1.7 million Hamas fundraising scheme – revealed with help from NYPD

Two Louisiana brothers are facing terrorism charges for their alleged role in a twisted scheme to fund Hamas under the guise of humanitarian aid to Gaza – and they were arrested with the help of the New York Police Department.

Abdel Adhami and his brother Omar Adhami were arrested in Pelican State last month for allegedly collecting money online and transferring it to Saleem Alzaq, a member of the terrorist group who regularly uses social media to post Hamas propaganda, according to newly unsealed federal indictments.

Abdel allegedly transferred more than $83,000 to Hamas between 2023 and 2026, while his brother is accused of sending $6,000.

According to Abdel’s complaint, he used several different Snapchat accounts to post Hamas propaganda and raise money for the terrorist group, in addition to directing his followers to a Telegram account.

The Telegram account “almost exclusively posted pro-HAMAS and pro-Palestinian Islamic Jihad messages, videos, and images, while soliciting donations,” court documents said.

Adbel is accused of sending nearly $35,000 to one PayPal account and $46,000 to another between November 2023 and June 2025 – all of which was routed to Alzaq, the complaint states.

The brothers allegedly used code words to avoid detection, including the term “bread” to refer to Hamas fighters and funding.

“This is the message I wanted to convey to the person who donated the bread,” Alzaq told Adbel via Snapchat in January 2024, according to court documents.

“Some of them received the bread, thanks to God,” Alzaq reportedly continued.

The fundraising plot began to unravel after Alzaq inadvertently contacted an undercover NYPD detective who went by the name “Hussain” in November 2025 via SnapChat.

The following month, Alzaq ordered the cop to contact Abdel.

“Call him and agree with him to see what is the best method, how to transfer, how to send them (funds). This young man transfers me on a monthly basis,” the complaint states.

It is unclear whether the undercover detective actually transferred money to Abdel.

“But don’t worry, everything is legal, God willing,” Abdel wrote to the police officer on WhatsApp, according to his complaint.

Abdel and his brother are both charged with material support for a foreign terrorist organization and wire fraud.

Alzaq was charged with conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

“The NYPD’s counterterrorism work knows no boundaries,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement about the arrests.

“Our intelligence analysts uncovered this international financial network and built a dossier revealing that more than $2 million was funneled to Hamas,” the commissioner said.

“This is the kind of extraordinary counterterrorism work that the New York Police Department does every day to thwart threats before they reach New Yorkers, and I thank our law enforcement partners for helping us dismantle this network,” she added.