Six accused of plotting attack on US army base
The Daily Telegraph (LONDON) - May 9, 2007, Wednesday
By: Toby Harnden
SIX alleged Islamic militants have been arrested in an FBI sting operation and
charged with plotting to "kill as many soldiers as possible'' at a US Army base
in New Jersey.
The FBI said yesterday that it was alerted to the men last year when they went
to a shop to have a video of themselves firing assault weapons and denouncing
America put on to a DVD. The authorities then managed to infiltrate the gang.
The six are accused of purchasing firearms, including semi-automatic weapons.
The FBI said the group had been training with paintball guns and watching
jihadist videos featuring Osama bin Laden.
The FBI said that four were ethnic Albanians, one was born in Turkey and a sixth
was born in Jordan. One of the men was in America illegally.
They were named as Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka, Serdar Tatar, Mohamad
Shnewer and Agron Abdullahu. One man was said to have experience as a sniper in
Kosovo. "They were prepared to die,'' a law enforcement source told the Newark
Star-Ledger newspaper.
The men are accused of scouting four military bases before settling on Fort Dix,
where troops are prepared for Iraq. All six were arrested on Monday as they
tried to buy automatic weapons in a sting set up by the FBI, which had had them
under surveillance for 15 months.
Copyright 2007 Telegraph Group Limited
Posted for Fair Use only.