PHILADELPHIA - May 9, 2007 - The 6 suspects in the terror ambush plotted for Fort Dix are due back in court Friday. But Action News has learned more details about the plan, and how the suspects intended to protect their families.
The men remain held at the Philadelphia federal detention center without bail. During a federal court appearance in Camden Friday, a judge will hear arguments on whether or not to set a bail amount
. A federal source tells us that the group intended to move their families out of the country, before carrying out a commando-style murder spree at Fort Dix in New Jersey. In fact, Action News found that some of those relatives are already gone.
The six men are of Eastern European and Middle Eastern descent. Three are in the country illegally; two had green cards, the sixth is a U.S. American citizen. Five of them are charged with conspiracy to kill U-S military personnel.
The other, 24-year-old Agron Abdullahu, is charged with trying to obtain weapons for illegal immigrants. Abdullahu was a supervisor at a bakery in South Jersey. A co-worker says he spoke fondly of the leader of al-Qaeda. "He used to make jokes about how the U.S. Government could not find his uncle Benny referring to Bin laden–Osama Bin Laden," according to Bob Watts, a former co-worker, "...used to call him his uncle Benny."
Ironically, Abdullahu and his family are from Kosovo. The U.S. government gave them protection from the Serbs, during the Kosovo War in the late 1990s. "He never really came out and said he had a hatred towards Americans and I told him many times, 'Look, you would have been left there if it wasn't for us helping you out.' And if Clinton didn't bring them in, he never would have had the chance that he had. And this is how he repays us," Watts told Action News reporter Dann Cuellar.
Our source also says he is not surprised that the group's targets would be limited to soldiers. Another site that was considered for an attack: last year's Army Navy game in Philadelphia. Authorities say the group abandoned that idea because they weren't ready.
Finally, investigators will not reveal the identity of a video store clerk they are calling the unsung hero of the case. The clerk called authorities more than a year ago, when one of the suspects asked him to transfer video to a DVD. The video featured 10 men shooting weapons at a firing range and calling for jihad. Four of the men in the video who were not arrested, remain under a cloud of suspicion.
Our source tells us prosecutors are far from done. They are looking to obtain enough evidence to pursue terrorism charges, which would carry higher prison terms.