Six arrested in alleged New Jersey terror plot

[GAP]

Six arrested in alleged New Jersey terror plot
Updated Tue. May. 8 2007 9:02 AM ET CTV.ca News Staff
Article Link

Six nationals of the former Yugoslavia have been arrested for allegedly plotting to go on a shooting rampage at a New Jersey army base.

The men were arrested early Tuesday on charges that they planned to attack Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," federal authorities confirmed to The Associated Press.

The group is expected to appear in a U.S. District Court in Camden to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, told AP.

Five of the six are from Cherry Hill, N.J., about 15 kilometres east of Philadelphia and about 30 kilometres from the base.

A law enforcement official also told AP that the men were arrested based on the combined efforts of a federal and local investigation.

The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because documents in the case remain sealed, said the attack was thwarted in the planning stages.

The men were arrested while attempting to buy automatic weapons in a sale set up by authorities, said the official.

The source also confirmed that authorities believe the men trained for the attack in Pocono, N.J. and also scouted out other locations.

Investigators told WNBC.com that the group considered attacking Dover Air base, Fort Monmouth and several Coast Guard stations.
More on link

 

[CougarKing]

Now is this is scary- at least they caught them.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070508/ap_on_re_us/fort_dix_plot

6 charged with plot on Army base in N.J.
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer
42 minutes ago

FORT DIX, N.J. - Six men described by federal prosecutors as "Islamic militants" were arrested on charges they plotted to attack the Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," authorities said Tuesday.

The six were scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden later Tuesday to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey.

Officials said four of the men were born in the former Yugoslavia, one in Jordan and one in Turkey. Five of them lived in Cherry Hill, 10 miles east of Philadelphia and 20 miles southwest of Fort Dix, Drewniak said.

"They were planning an attack on Fort Dix in which they would kill as many soldiers as possible," Drewniak said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity because documents in the case remain sealed, said the attack was stopped in the planning stages.

Authorities believe the men trained in the Poconos for the attack and also conducted surveillance at other area military institutions, including Fort Monmouth, the official said. The official said that the men had lived in the United States for some time.

The six were arrested trying to buy automatic weapons in a sale set-up by law enforcement authorities, the official said.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said there is "no direct evidence" that the men arrested in the Fort Dix plot have ties to international terrorism.

"They are not charged with being members of an international terrorism organization," Snow said. "At least at this point, there is no evidence that they received direction from international terror organizations. However, their involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance and discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a strong law enforcement response."

Asked if those arrested had any ties to al-Qaida, Snow referred questions to the        FBI and the U.S. attorney, but said those officials "seem to indicate that there is no direct evidence of a foreign terrorist tie."

Jerri Williams, spokeswoman for the FBI in Philadelphia, said U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie and J.P. Weis, special agent in charge of the FBI in Philadelphia, would release more information at a news conference later Tuesday.

Fort Dix is used to train soldiers, particularly reservists. In 1999, it sheltered more than 4,000 ethnic Albanian refugees during the        NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

After that war, refugees were allowed to return to the U.N.-run province of        Kosovo in Serbia or to seek permanent residency in the United States. The        U.N. Security Council is considering whether to approve a plan to grant Kosovo independence from Serbia under the supervision of the        European Union and the United States.

Jeff Sagnip, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. James Saxton, who represents Fort Dix, said the base, along with adjacent McGuire Air Force Base, has been put on its highest security alert level.

He said Fort Dix typically has 15,000 people, including 3,000 soldiers; McGuire, which is adjacent to Fort Dix, has about 11,500 people.

Soldiers at Fort Dix have been training for warfare in        Iraq and        Afghanistan, Sagnip said.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the once-open Fort Dix has been closed to the public. There are heavily armed guards at entrances, along with X-ray machines and concrete barriers to make it impossible for vehicles to rush the entrances.

But the main road through neighboring Cookstown cuts through the base and is accessible to the public. A half-dozen locations on the base, including at least two where soldiers were conducting maneuvers Tuesday morning, were only a few hundred yards off the main road and accessible to anyone.

The description of the suspects as "Islamic militants" was causing renewed worry among New Jersey's Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New Jersey were rounded up and detained by authorities in the months following the Sept. 11 attacks, but none was connected to that plot.

"If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. "But when the government says 'Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous.

"Don't equate actions with religion," he said.

___

Associated Press Writers Matt Apuzzo in Washington, Geoff Mulvihill in Mount Laurel, Tom Hester Jr. in Trenton and Jeffrey Gold in Newark contributed to this story.

(This version CORRECTS place of birth for men, per federal authorities)

 

[George Wallace]

Printed in accordance to the Fair Dealings Act:

From CTV News 

Six arrested in alleged New Jersey terror plot

Six nationals of the former Yugoslavia have been arrested for allegedly plotting to go on a shooting rampage at a New Jersey army base.

The men were arrested early Tuesday on charges that they planned to attack Fort Dix Army base and "kill as many soldiers as possible," federal authorities confirmed to The Associated Press.
The group is expected to appear in a U.S. District Court in Camden to face charges of conspiracy to kill U.S. servicemen, Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey, told AP.
Five of the six are from Cherry Hill, N.J., about 15 kilometres east of Philadelphia and about 30 kilometres from the base.
A law enforcement official also told AP that the men were arrested based on the combined efforts of a federal and local investigation.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because documents in the case remain sealed, said the attack was thwarted in the planning stages.
The men were arrested while attempting to buy automatic weapons in a sale set up by authorities, said the official.
The source also confirmed that authorities believe the men trained for the attack in Pocono, N.J. and also scouted out other locations.
Investigators told WNBC.com that the group considered attacking Dover Air base, Fort Monmouth and several Coast Guard stations.
CNN's Kelli Arena reported that the investigation "was aided by an informant."
Fort Dix is run in part by the Army and is used as a reserve training centre. Active units also take part in training at the base. In 1999, the base hosted refugees from Kosovo.
Police are planning to hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
With files from The Associated Press

© 2007 Bell Canada, Microsoft Corporation and/or their contributors. All rights reserved

 

[Mike Baker]

Wow. Very interesing, good thing they caught them.

 

[hammond]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The federal government Monday charged six alleged "Islamic radicals" with plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey.

The six were arrested Monday night, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey said in a written statement, and are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden, New Jersey, on Tuesday afternoon.

"Their alleged intention was to conduct an armed assault on the army base and to kill as many soldiers as possible," the office said.

The FBI and the U.S. attorney's office scheduled a news conference later on Tuesday to discuss the case.

One of the suspects was born in Jordan, another in Turkey, the attorney's office said. The rest are believed to be from the former Yugoslavia, "either U.S. citizens or living illegally in the United States."

Three of the six are in the U.S. illegally, according to an FBI affidavit filed with the criminal complaints.

According to the affidavit, the case began to take shape in January 2006, when an employee of a store told the FBI someone had brought a "disturbing" video to be duplicated.

The video "depicted 10 young men who appeared to be in their early twenties shooting assault weapons at a firing range in a militia-like style while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic 'Allah Akbar,'" Arabic for 'God is Great,' the affidavit said.

The FBI and Joint Terrorism Task Force began an investigation immediately, says the affidavit filed by Special Agent John J. Ryan.

Two paid informants successfully infiltrated the group, one in March 2006 and the other in July, Ryan's affidavit says. Both of them "consensually recorded" meetings and conversations, the affidavit says.

One of the informants claimed to have connections with an arms dealer who could sell the alleged conspirators AK-47 automatic machine guns and other weapons, according to the affidavit. Both took part in firearms training with the group, the affidavit says.

One complaint names as the defendant Dritan Duka, and says he conspired with four others -- Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka and Serdar Tatar -- "to kill officers and employees ... of the United States Government, namely members of the uniformed services."

The sixth individual, named in an FBI affidavit accompanying that complaint, is Agron Abdullahu. He is charged with aiding and abetting the three Dukas, "who were then aliens illegally and unlawfully in the United States, to possess in and affecting commerce firearms."

The defendants did not immediately release statements or respond to the charges.

The complaint says the group conducted firearms training in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania, in the Pocono Mountains. It also says Shnewer conducted surveillance at several U.S. military sites: Fort Dix and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and the U.S. Coast Guard building in Philadelphia.

It says Tatar acquired a map of Fort Dix and distributed it to others.

According to the FBI affidavit, Tatar had delivered pizzas to Fort Dix while working for his family's restaurant, and Shnewer said Tatar knew the base "like the palm of his hand."

The complaint alleges that Dritan Duka ordered four AK-47 Kalashnikov fully-automatic machine guns as well as M-16 firearms and handguns, and that Shnewer ordered an AK-47 Kalashnikov as well.

The White House said there is no suspected link to any international terrorist group.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the six "are not being charged with being members of an international terrorism organization. At least at this point there is no evidence they received direction from international foreign terrorist organizations. However their involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance, and discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a strong law enforcement response."

While authorities are glad to have arrested them, the individuals are "hardly hard core terrorists," one law enforcement source said.

Another source said that while the allegations are "troubling," they are "not the type that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up."

Fort Dix is used to train members of the Army Reserve and National Guard for missions in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world.

It was used in 1999 to house ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo, according to the Defense Department Web site.

CNN's Kevin Bohn and Kelli Arena contributed to this report.

Source
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/08/fortdix.plot/index.html

 

[Mike Baker]

Already posted up.

 

[Cdn Blackshirt]

My concern with this kind of stuff is that in putting these guys through criminal rather than military prosecution, some judge could demand sources & means for intelligence which would then give away how these guys were caught.

Bottom Line:  Terrorism should never be a criminal code issue....it should be a military treason issue and if convicted, undeclared combatants should be shot or hung.


Matthew. 

 

[emmiee]

MSNBC has a great article..this is the part, besides the serious side, that made me go, huh?

NBC, MSNBC and news services
Updated: 8 minutes ago
MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. - Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested and accused Tuesday of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix and massacre scores of U.S. soldiers -- a plot the FBI says was foiled when the men took a video of themselves firing assault weapons to a store to have the footage put onto a DVD.

It was a video store clerk that initially called the FBI to investigate and insert an informant.

I'll leave the "how dumb can you be" comment to myself.

emmiee

 

[tomahawk6]

Here is a copy of the complaint.

http://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates/Duka%20complaint.pdf

 

[old medic]

I guess we missed commenting on the trial, etc,
but here is an update about an appeal.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-fort-dix-plot,1,1901045.story


At least 3 of 5 defendants appeal NJ convictions of conspiring to kill US soldiers
By Associated Press
7:47 PM PST, January 26, 2009

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Three of the five men convicted last month in New Jersey of conspiring to kill U.S. soldiers have filed appeals.

Defendant Serdar Tatar had already asked the judge to overturn his verdict or schedule a new trial. A lawyer for defendant Eljvir Duka filed on Friday to join Tatar's motion.

Defendant Shain Duka's lawyer filed a similar motion Monday.

A telephone message left for Dritan Duka's lawyer was not returned.

A secretary for the attorney representing Mohamad Shnewer said papers would be filed by Monday's deadline. The documents were not posted on a court Web site by evening.