CAMDEN, N.J. - Six Muslim men suspected of plotting to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were ordered held without bail Friday.
Prosecutors argued that the men, all born outside the United States, pose a flight risk. They are being held at a federal detention center in Philadelphia.
The men were arrested Monday night during what the FBI said was an attempt to buy AK-47 machine guns, M-16s and other weapons. They targeted Fort Dix, a post 25 miles east of Philadelphia that is used primarily to train reservists, partly because one of them had delivered pizzas there and was familiar with the base, according to court filings. Their objective was to kill "as many American soldiers as possible," the documents said.
The men have lived in and around Philadelphia for years, worshipped at moderate mosques and worked blue-collar jobs installing roofs, driving a cab, delivering pizzas and baking bread. Four are ethnic Albanians from the former Yugoslavia, one is from Jordan and one is from Turkey.
Defense lawyers for some of the men said they are considering attacking the prosecution's reliance on two paid informants who infiltrated the group more than a year ago and recorded conversations with the defendants.
Authorities said they first learned about the men in January 2006 after a tip from a clerk at a Mount Laurel electronics store. The clerk called police because a home video the men wanted transferred to a DVD looked like it might have terrorist links, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said.
Earlier this year, authorities said, the men took a training trip to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania, where they fired weapons and played paintball to prepare for an attack.
Five of the men _ Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22; Serdar Tatar, 23; Dritan "Anthony" or "Tony" Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka, 23 _ are charged with conspiring to kill uniformed military personnel, an offense punishable by life in prison.
Agron Abdullahu, 24, is charged with helping illegal immigrants obtain weapons. He could face 10 years in prison if convicted.
Abdullahu, who faces the least serious charges of the six, will have another bail hearing next Thursday.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.
My name is VIN and I am an Albanian.
I started reading this article with the believe that it was some sort of news, but I was disappointed with the content and the opinion expressed in this article.
Let me start with your geometry, because it seams that is totally screwed up. The shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line; it can be also a curved line just like time becomes a variable when the speed of light is reached. Therefore making the connection between the terrorist activities perpetrated here by 4 ethnic Albanians to the Albanian nation I would call it childish and Ignorant from your part.
Your claims about Albanians being connected and supporting terrorism make me believe that, either you hate Albanians and are Pro-Serbian or that you are a total Ignorant. You have to excuse me about the language I am using, but this article is totally unacceptable to me. Let me teach you something about history since it seams that you have no clue whatsoever.
Albanians are descendent of Illyrians and occupied the Balkan Peninsula since 2200BC. The lands that Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and part of Greece were all Illyrian land. The place named Kosova, which you so passionately speak in this article, was called Dardania and was part of the Illyrian tribe of the Dardanians. Illyria was occupied 600 years by the Romans then parts of it were occupied by the South Slavs which moved to the Balkans in 600-700AD. Most of the Illyrians were assimilated but Kosova, Albania, Chameria and part of Macedonia and Monte Negro still preserved their culture and language. At one point around 1300AD most of Kosova and part of Albania was under the occupation of Serbs. At this time they build some orthodox churches which were build on the foundation of the Albanian churches. I wan to remind you that Albania was Christian before the Turks invaded. The Turks stayed in Albania and the whole region for 500 years, but Albanians never lost their identity. Most of the Albanians converted or were forced to convert into Islam. In 1912, with the decay of Ottoman Empire the Serbs, Greeks, Italians and Montenegrins tried to partition and annex all the territory inhabited by Albanians. The only country that helped Albania in creating an independent country was the USA. Unfortunately, half of the Albanian territories were occupied by Greece (Chameria), Serbs (Kosova), Montenegro (Plava, Gucia) and Macedonia (Ilirida).
Somebodies Terrorist is someone else’s freedom-fighter. The KLA, which you claimed were terrorist supported by USA, did not kill women and children, but their try to defend their own people. Let’s not forget that the Serb military and Serb chetniks massacred 10.000 people, burned to ground hundreds of villages, raped thousands of Albanian women and expelled by force 1.000.000 Albanians from their home. In 1998 NATO coalition headed by USA intervened stopping the massacre and the expulsion of Kosovar Albanians from their land. It is with American help that the Kosovar Albanians survived the WAR and it is with American help that there are trying to get their INDEPENDENCE.
Albanian’s owe a great deal to the American people. They owe their survival as a country, as a people and the Kosovars will owe their Independence.
Albanians are forever in dept to USA; therefore we respect and love this country. We (Albanians) are ashamed for the action taken by 4 of our countrymen. Understanding the motives behind their action will be incomprehensible to every Albanian. This action came as a shock to the whole Albanian community residing in USA, but also to all Albanian Nation. To prove my point I will add a link which will show how Albanians feel about America and their 4 countrymen.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Albanian/petition.html
Generalizing a nation in the grounds of the action taken by 4 people is pure stupidity. I wan to remind you that Albanians are the most Pro-American people in Europe and that Albania was one of the first countries joining the fight against terrorism and having still troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is my believe that those people don’t have Albanian blood running in their veins, because not only are they damaging the image of Albanians throughout the world, but by wanting to commit this acts of violence on the American soldiers they damage the Albanian National interest. The only thing that I would expect from Albanian men is fighting and falling along an American. Terrorism is not part of our culture and belief, Albanism is sacred to us and so is Freedom