Storekeeper Tipped Feds to Jihad Video

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) - May 8, 2007 -- The plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix was uncovered Jan. 31, 2006, when a shopkeeper alerted the FBI about a "disturbing" video he had been asked to copy onto a DVD, according to the complaints.

The video showed 10 young men in their early 20s "shooting assault weapons at a firing range ... while calling for jihad and shouting in Arabic `Allah Akbar' (`God is Great')," the complaints said.

Six of the 10 were identified as those arrested in the plot: Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka, Serdar Tatar and Agron Abdullahu. Checks with Immigration and Customs Enforcement show that Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka are illegally living in the United States, according to FBI complaints unsealed with their arrests.

The complaints each gave this account of the investigation:

By March 2006, the group had been infiltrated by an informant who developed a relationship with Shnewer.

Shnewer in May had the informant view files on his laptop computer that included the last will and testament of at least two of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and images of Osama Bin Laden and others making jihad recruiting speeches.

The informant secretly recorded meetings in August 2006 in which Shnewer said that he and the other suspects were part of a group planning to attack a U.S. military base.

Shnewer named Fort Dix, and a nearby Navy base, explaining that "they could utilize six or seven jihadists to attack and kill at least one hundred soldiers by using rocket-propelled grenades" or other weapons.

"If you want to do anything here, there is Fort Dix and I don't want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily," Shnewer said.

In July 2006, a second FBI informant was approached by six men he did not know. Using the alias "Sulayman," Eljvir Duka invited the informant to his home.

Later than month, the first informant had authorities search Tatar's vehicle, where officers found a 50-round box of 9mm ammunition.

The group was depending on inside knowledge of the base from Serdar Tatar, who had worked at a nearby pizzeria and delivered pizzas to the base. In August 2006, Shnewer told the first informant, "Why did I chose Fort Dix? Because I know that Serdar knows it like the palm of his hand."

Shnewer conducted surveillance at Fort Dix and the nearby Lakehurst Naval Air Station, as well as Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and a Coast Guard building on Delaware Avenue in Philadelphia, in August 2006, and Shnewer was also trailed that month to Fort Monmouth in central New Jersey.

In September 2006, Eljvir Duka told the first informant that before it could attack, the group needed a "fatwa." The FBI said the term, usually a ruling on Islamic law, is used by extremists to mean "permission" for an act that otherwise would be illegal under Islamic law.

Tatar told the first informant in November 2006 that he would get a map of Fort Dix from this father's restaurant. Tatar also suggested targeting a fort location that would cause a power outage for an easier attack.

By the end of November 2006, Tatar gave the first informant a map labeled, "Cantonment Area Fort Dix, NJ."

By December, members of the group told the second informant they had acquired a shotgun, a .357-Magnum handgun and a small automatic weapon. Shnewer was recorded on Dec. 8, 2006, as saying the group missed a chance to attack military personnel at the recent Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.

By the end of December, the group settled on Fort Dix as a target, and Shnewer said he was saving money to buy a "fully automatic" machine gun from a source of the first informant, but noted he could face prison for having such a weapon.

Under the eyes and cameras of law officers, the group had a firearms training sessions Feb. 2 and 3, 2007, in Gouldsboro, Pa., at Pennsylvania State Game Land 127, the same range seen on the video flagged by the shopkeeper over a year earlier.

The weapons used included an SKS semiautomatic rifle, a Beretta Storm semiautomatic rifle, a Mossberg 12-guage pump shotgun, and a 9mm Beretta handgun. On Feb. 4, 2007, the group watched terrorist training videos on Shnewer's laptop at the nearby rental house.

Shnewer in February 2007 said he was considering attacking U.S. warships he believed would be docking at the Port of Philadelphia next year.

On Feb. 26, 2007, members of the group and the first informant used paintball guns for a training exercise in woods near the Cherry Hill home of Eljvir and Shain Duka. Another session was held March 15.

In a secretly recorded conversation with the second informant in March, Shain Duka said that Tatar wanted to join the Army so he could kill U.S. soldiers from the "inside." "He had only one mind, how to kill American soldiers," Dritan Duka added.

The effort to acquire an AK-47 machine gun gained steam in March and April 2007. At one point, Eljvir Duka told the first informant that he backed away from a deal in Camden because he thought he was being set up by the FBI.

Later, Dritan Duka said they might also want some M-16 rifles and grenade launchers, but cautioned the first informant on the need for secrecy: "I just want to be safe brother, 'cause you understand? ... 'cause I trust you brother, you understand? I got five kids so I don't wanna go down. People catch me like they think I'm a terrorist?"

At the end of April, however, Shnewer told the first informant they only wanted an AK-47 at this time.

(Copyright 2007 by the Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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