Kosovo native pleads guilty over alleged plot to attack US base
Agence France Presse - October 31, 2007

NEW YORK (AFP) — A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to provide firearms to a group of five alleged Islamic radicals charged with plotting an attack on a US Army base in the northeastern state.

Agron Abdullahu, 25, [an ethnic Albanian] originally from the Serbian province of Kosovo, entered the plea at a court in Camden, New Jersey, and is due to be sentenced on February 6. He faces up to five years in jail when he is sentenced.

Abdullahu was arrested in May over an alleged plot to attack the Fort Dix military base. His five co-defendants are charged with plotting to kill "as many soldiers as possible" at the base and face life in jail if convicted.

Federal authorities said the six were arrested after a 16-month sting operation as they tried to buy automatic rifles. One of the accused was believed to be familiar with the base through delivering pizzas there.

Abdullahu admitted in court Wednesday that he provided firearms to three of his co-defendants and said he had at least twice provided them with firearms and ammunition for them to use at a firing range in Pennsylvania.

Federal authorities said the group -- which includes three [ethnic Albanian] brothers from the former Yugoslavia, one man born in Turkey and another born in Jordan -- were not believed to be connected with any foreign Islamic militant groups [except the Kosovo Liberation Army where Abdullahu was a sniper].

The alleged plot was foiled after a shore clerk alerted police to a "disturbing" video that the suspects, all in their 20s, had made of themselves firing guns and shouting "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for God is greater.

One of the suspects allegedly told an informer that they planned to kill "at least one hundred soldiers" by using rocket-propelled grenades or other weapons in the attack on the base, according to prosecutors.

[Editorial note: The fact that the terrorists are ethnic Albanians with ties to the Kosovo Liberation Army is not mentioned anywhere in the original article, so I have helpfully bracketed in that missing information. The article talks about the "former Yugoslavia" and "the Serbian province of Kosovo" is mentioned, but nothing about the terrorists being ethnic Albanians was mentioned. I'm sure this was an honest mistake, and not a deliberate attempt by AFP to mislead its readers into thinking that the terrorists were Serbs from the former Yugoslavia. Bias in the media? Perish the thought!]

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