2007 Fort Dix attack plot
Encyclopedia
The 2007 Fort Dix attack plot involved a group of six radical Islamist men who conspired to stage an attack against U.S. Military personnel stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey
. The alleged aim of the group was to "kill as many soldiers as possible".
The men were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI) on May 8, 2007, and were prosecuted in federal court in October 2008. On December 22, 2008, five were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in their intentions to kill U.S. military personnel; four received life sentences, while one received 33 years in prison. The remaining member was thought to have had a minor role in the plot and was sentenced to five years in prison for weapons offenses.
The six men traveled to the Poconos, where they allegedly practiced firing "semi-automatic weapons
" at a shooting range in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania
The shooting range, at Pennsylvania State Game Land 127
, is operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A group of ten men had recorded video footage of themselves shooting weapons and shouting Allahu Akbar
("God is greater").
On January 31, 2006, the men took the video to the Circuit City in Mount Laurel, New Jersey
to convert it to a DVD
. An employee of the store, Brian Morgenstern, alerted authorities, and a full-scale investigation was initiated. An informant from the FBI infiltrated the group to gather information. The group's planning was caught on video and audio tape by federal authorities. They also trained in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
. US Attorney Chris Christie stated that one of the suspects was able to draw a detailed map of Fort Dix from memory.
The men continued to hold normal jobs. The Duka brothers, Eljvir, Dritan, and Shain (Albanians
), operated a roofing business known as Qadr. Inc., Colonial Roofing and National Roofing. Agron Abdullahu (Albanian), Serdar Tatar (a Turkish legal immigrant), and Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer (a U.S. citizen from Jordan) held a variety of jobs, including that of a taxi driver and clerk for 7-Eleven
.
Five of the men arrested, according to news reports, intended to attack the Fort Dix military base and kill as many servicemen as they could. The sixth man arrested, Abdullahu, has been charged with aiding and abetting in the possession of firearms by the Duka brothers. The group revealed to the FBI informant (a conversation that was recorded) that the five other men intended to "hit a heavy concentration of soldiers [...] You hit four, five or six Humvees
and light the whole place [up] and retreat completely without any losses".
The men attempted to purchase weapons from an FBI informant, including AK-47
s, M16s
, M60s
, rocket propelled grenade
s, rocket
s, semi-automatic Sig Sauer 9 mm
handgun
s, Smith & Wesson
9 mm, C-4
plastic explosive
, and nitroglycerin. The informant told them that the weapons would come from an underground
military dealer from Baltimore, Maryland who had recently returned from Egypt
.
One of the men in the Fort Dix plot was recorded on a now widely broadcast surveillance tape commenting on a lecture by Anwar al-Awlaki
, a controversial American Muslim cleric who was targeted for killing
by President Obama
in 2010. On that tape, Shain Duka exclaimed “You gotta hear this lecture ... it's the truth, no holds barred, straight how it is!”
in federal court in Camden on June 14 where they pled not guilty.
The U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler
called it "an unusual case" and called for the trial to begin by early October, adding, "If the government is not able to prove this case, they should not be in jail. I want to get this resolved."
Agron Abdullahu, suspected of having the smallest role in the attack plot, accepted a plea bargain
with a limit of 5 years in prison for his weapons offenses. Prosecutors say that while Abdullahu supplied weapons to the other five men, he resisted the idea of attacking the military base.
Opening arguments were presented on October 20, 2008. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick asserted that the defendants were inspired by jihad
, saying "Their motive was to defend Islam. Their inspiration was Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden
. Their intention was to attack the U.S." Prosecutors presented recordings of the plot obtained by two paid FBI informants during a 16-month undercover investigation as well as suspicious videos that were found on one defendant's computer. Defense attorneys countered that the videos, alleged by the prosecution to be terrorist training videos, merely showed the defendants on holiday exhibiting "false bravado". They also attacked the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. On December 22, 2008, the plotters were found guilty on charges of conspiracy to harm US military personnel. However, they were acquitted on the charge of attempted murder. During sentencing, Dritan and Shain Duka received life sentences for the conspiracy conviction with an additional 30 years for related weapons charges. Eljvir Duka and Mohamad Shnewer both received life sentences and Serdar Tatar was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
A 2011 NPR
report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit
.
Dritan Duka is currently serving his life sentence at ADX Florence
, a supermax
facility where the most dangerous inmates in the federal prison system are held. It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex
in Colorado
.
Shain Duka is currently serving his life sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Florence
, a high security facility which is also part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex
in Colorado
.
Eljvir Duka is currently serving his life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, a medium security facility which is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute
in Indiana
.
Mohamad Shnewer is currently serving his life sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Marion
, a high security facility in Illinois
.
Serdar Tatar is currently serving his 33-year sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson
, a high security prison in Arizona
; he is scheduled for release in 2036.
Agron Abdullahu was released from federal prison on March 24, 2009.
of a retrieved laptop, the downloaded last will and testament of two September 11
hijackers
and militant Islamist recruiting speeches given by Osama bin Laden
and others were allegedly recovered.
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. The alleged aim of the group was to "kill as many soldiers as possible".
The men were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI) on May 8, 2007, and were prosecuted in federal court in October 2008. On December 22, 2008, five were found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder in their intentions to kill U.S. military personnel; four received life sentences, while one received 33 years in prison. The remaining member was thought to have had a minor role in the plot and was sentenced to five years in prison for weapons offenses.
Group members
- Dritan Duka (age 28), Shain Duka (26) and Eljvir Duka (23) ethnic AlbaniansAlbaniansAlbanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
from Debar, then in YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
, currently the Republic of MacedoniaRepublic of MacedoniaMacedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
. The Duka family entered the United States illegally through Mexico in October 1984. In 1989, father Ferik Duka made an application for asylumRight of asylumRight of asylum is an ancient juridical notion, under which a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country may be protected by another sovereign authority, a foreign country, or church sanctuaries...
with the Immigration and Naturalization ServiceImmigration and Naturalization ServiceThe United States Immigration and Naturalization Service , now referred to as Legacy INS, ceased to exist under that name on March 1, 2003, when most of its functions were transferred from the Department of Justice to three new components within the newly created Department of Homeland Security, as...
and acknowledged the family's illegal entryIllegal entryIllegal entry is the act of foreign nationals arriving in or crossing the borders into a country in violation of its immigration law.Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like...
into the country. Between 1996 and 2006, Cherry HillCherry Hill, New JerseyCherry Hill is a township in Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a population of 71,045, representing an increase of 1,080 from the 69,965 residents enumerated during the 2000 Census...
police charged Dritan and Shain Duka with a number of disorderly persons offenses, including marijuana possession, improper behavior, prowling, disturbing the peaceDisturbing the PeaceDisturbing the Peace is the second studio album by Alcatrazz, and is the only one featuring Steve Vai on guitar. One of the singles, God Blessed Video, can be found on the fictional radio station, V-Rock, on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Weeks on Chart: 7, Peak: #133...
, and obstructing the administration of law. They were fined between $20 and $830 on various occasions and sent home, according to court records. The three brothers were also issued about 50 traffic citations between 1997 and 2006 – more than 20 by Cherry Hill police – for speeding, driving without licenses, driving while on the suspended list, failure to appear in court, and other charges.
- Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer (22), Dritan Duka's brother-in-law, a PalestinianPalestinian peopleThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
cab driver from JordanJordanJordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
, who became a naturalized citizenNaturalizationNaturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
. - Serdar Tatar, born in TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, worked at his father's pizzeria. - Agron Abdullahu, Albanian from KosovoKosovoKosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
, said to have provided weaponry instruction to the group; and worked at a ShopRiteShopRite (United States)ShopRite Supermarkets is a retailers' cooperative chain of supermarkets in the northeastern United States, with stores in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, and Pennsylvania...
supermarket in Buena Vista TownshipBuena Vista Township, New JerseyBuena Vista Township is a township located in Atlantic County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a total population of 7,570....
, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
Preparation
Semi-automatic firearm
A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a weapon which performs all steps necessary to prepare the weapon to fire again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the weapon's feed device or magazine...
" at a shooting range in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania
Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania
Gouldsboro is a small village located in Lehigh Township in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.Parts of Clifton Township, Thornhurst Township, and Covington Township in Lackawanna County, as well as a very small portion of Coolbaugh Township in Monroe County are serviced by the Gouldsboro Post Office, and...
The shooting range, at Pennsylvania State Game Land 127
Pennsylvania State Game Lands
The Pennsylvania State Game Lands are lands managed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for hunting, trapping, and fishing. These lands, often not usable for farming or development, are donated to the PGC or purchased by the PGC with hunting license monies.The Pennsylvania Game Commission runs a...
, is operated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. A group of ten men had recorded video footage of themselves shooting weapons and shouting Allahu Akbar
Takbir
The Takbīr or Tekbir is the Arabic term for the phrase ' . It is usually translated "God is [the] Greatest," or "God is Great". It is a common Islamic Arabic expression...
("God is greater").
On January 31, 2006, the men took the video to the Circuit City in Mount Laurel, New Jersey
Mount Laurel Township, New Jersey
Mount Laurel Township is a Township in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States, and is an edge city "suburb" of Philadelphia. As of the 2000 United States Census, the township population was 40,221...
to convert it to a DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
. An employee of the store, Brian Morgenstern, alerted authorities, and a full-scale investigation was initiated. An informant from the FBI infiltrated the group to gather information. The group's planning was caught on video and audio tape by federal authorities. They also trained in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Cherry Hill is a township in Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a population of 71,045, representing an increase of 1,080 from the 69,965 residents enumerated during the 2000 Census...
. US Attorney Chris Christie stated that one of the suspects was able to draw a detailed map of Fort Dix from memory.
The men continued to hold normal jobs. The Duka brothers, Eljvir, Dritan, and Shain (Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
), operated a roofing business known as Qadr. Inc., Colonial Roofing and National Roofing. Agron Abdullahu (Albanian), Serdar Tatar (a Turkish legal immigrant), and Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer (a U.S. citizen from Jordan) held a variety of jobs, including that of a taxi driver and clerk for 7-Eleven
7-Eleven
7-Eleven is part of an international chain of convenience stores, operating under Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd, which in turn is owned by Seven & I Holdings Co...
.
Five of the men arrested, according to news reports, intended to attack the Fort Dix military base and kill as many servicemen as they could. The sixth man arrested, Abdullahu, has been charged with aiding and abetting in the possession of firearms by the Duka brothers. The group revealed to the FBI informant (a conversation that was recorded) that the five other men intended to "hit a heavy concentration of soldiers [...] You hit four, five or six Humvees
High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle , better known as the Humvee, is a military 4WD motor vehicle created by AM General. It has largely supplanted the roles formerly served by smaller Jeeps such as the M151 MUTT, the M561 "Gama Goat", their M718A1 and M792 ambulance versions, the CUCV,...
and light the whole place [up] and retreat completely without any losses".
The men attempted to purchase weapons from an FBI informant, including AK-47
AK-47
The AK-47 is a selective-fire, gas-operated 7.62×39mm assault rifle, first developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is officially known as Avtomat Kalashnikova . It is also known as a Kalashnikov, an "AK", or in Russian slang, Kalash.Design work on the AK-47 began in the last year...
s, M16s
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
, M60s
M60 machine gun
The M60 is a family of American general-purpose machine guns firing 7.62×51mm NATO cartridges from a disintegrating belt of M13 links...
, rocket propelled grenade
Rocket propelled grenade
A rocket-propelled grenade is a shoulder-fired, anti-tank weapon system which fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead. These warheads are affixed to a rocket motor and stabilized in flight with fins. Some types of RPG are reloadable while others are single-use. RPGs, with the exception of...
s, rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
s, semi-automatic Sig Sauer 9 mm
9 mm Luger Parabellum
The 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge was designed by Georg Luger and introduced in 1902 by the German weapons manufacturer Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken for their Luger semi-automatic pistol...
handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
s, Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson
Smith & Wesson is the largest manufacturer of handguns in the United States. The corporate headquarters is in Springfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1852, Smith & Wesson's pistols and revolvers have become standard issue to police and armed forces throughout the world...
9 mm, C-4
C-4 (explosive)
C4 or Composition C4 is a common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.-Composition and manufacture:C4 is made up of explosives, plastic binder, plasticizer and usually marker or odorizing taggant chemicals such as 2,3-dimethyl-2,3-dinitrobutane to help detect the explosive and...
plastic explosive
Plastic explosive
Plastic explosive is a specialised form of explosive material. It is a soft and hand moldable solid material. Plastic explosives are properly known as putty explosives within the field of explosives engineering....
, and nitroglycerin. The informant told them that the weapons would come from an underground
Underground economy
A black market or underground economy is a market in goods or services which operates outside the formal one supported by established state power. Typically the totality of such activity is referred to with the definite article as a complement to the official economies, by market for such goods and...
military dealer from Baltimore, Maryland who had recently returned from Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
.
One of the men in the Fort Dix plot was recorded on a now widely broadcast surveillance tape commenting on a lecture by Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki
Anwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
, a controversial American Muslim cleric who was targeted for killing
Targeted killing
Targeted killing is the deliberate, specific targeting and killing, by a government or its agents, of a supposed terrorist or of a supposed "unlawful combatant" who is not in that government's custody...
by President Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
in 2010. On that tape, Shain Duka exclaimed “You gotta hear this lecture ... it's the truth, no holds barred, straight how it is!”
Trial
The six suspects were indicted on June 5, 2007 and were arraignedArraignment
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal complaint in the presence of the defendant to inform the defendant of the charges against him or her. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea...
in federal court in Camden on June 14 where they pled not guilty.
The U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler
Robert B. Kugler
Robert Byron Kugler is a United States federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey.Born in Camden, New Jersey, Kugler received a B.A. from Syracuse University in 1975 and a J.D. from Rutgers University Law School in Camden in 1978. He was a law clerk, Hon. John...
called it "an unusual case" and called for the trial to begin by early October, adding, "If the government is not able to prove this case, they should not be in jail. I want to get this resolved."
Agron Abdullahu, suspected of having the smallest role in the attack plot, accepted a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
with a limit of 5 years in prison for his weapons offenses. Prosecutors say that while Abdullahu supplied weapons to the other five men, he resisted the idea of attacking the military base.
Opening arguments were presented on October 20, 2008. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick asserted that the defendants were inspired by jihad
Jihad
Jihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
, saying "Their motive was to defend Islam. Their inspiration was Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. Their intention was to attack the U.S." Prosecutors presented recordings of the plot obtained by two paid FBI informants during a 16-month undercover investigation as well as suspicious videos that were found on one defendant's computer. Defense attorneys countered that the videos, alleged by the prosecution to be terrorist training videos, merely showed the defendants on holiday exhibiting "false bravado". They also attacked the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses. On December 22, 2008, the plotters were found guilty on charges of conspiracy to harm US military personnel. However, they were acquitted on the charge of attempted murder. During sentencing, Dritan and Shain Duka received life sentences for the conspiracy conviction with an additional 30 years for related weapons charges. Eljvir Duka and Mohamad Shnewer both received life sentences and Serdar Tatar was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
A 2011 NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
report claimed some of the people associated with this group were imprisoned in a highly restrictive Communication Management Unit
Communication Management Unit
Communication Management Unit is a recent designation for a self-contained group within a facility in the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons that severely restricts, manages and monitors all outside communication of inmates in the unit.-Origins:As part of the Bush Administration's War on...
.
Dritan Duka is currently serving his life sentence at ADX Florence
ADX Florence
The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility is a supermax prison for men that is located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, United States, south of Florence. It is unofficially known as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or The Alcatraz of the Rockies...
, a supermax
Supermax
Supermax is the name used to describe "control-unit" prisons, or units within prisons, which represent the most secure levels of custody in the prison systems of certain countries...
facility where the most dangerous inmates in the federal prison system are held. It is part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex
Florence Federal Correctional Complex
The Florence Federal Correctional Complex, located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, south of Florence. The complex is south of Denver and Colorado Springs and west of Pueblo on State Highway 67. The complex was opened in 1994...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
.
Shain Duka is currently serving his life sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Florence
United States Penitentiary, Florence
The United States Penitentiary in Florence is a high security prison located in the Florence Federal Correctional Complex in Fremont County, Colorado, near Florence.-History:...
, a high security facility which is also part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex
Florence Federal Correctional Complex
The Florence Federal Correctional Complex, located in unincorporated Fremont County, Colorado, south of Florence. The complex is south of Denver and Colorado Springs and west of Pueblo on State Highway 67. The complex was opened in 1994...
in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
.
Eljvir Duka is currently serving his life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Terre Haute, a medium security facility which is part of the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute
Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute
The Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute, is a federal prison for adult males located at the intersection of State Road 63 and Springhill Drive, two miles south of Terre Haute, Indiana United States...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
.
Mohamad Shnewer is currently serving his life sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Marion
United States Penitentiary, Marion
The United States Penitentiary is a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility located in Southern Precinct, unincorporated Williamson County, Illinois. The facility is located south of Marion, from St. Louis, and from Chicago. It was built in 1963 to replace the Alcatraz prison in San Francisco, which...
, a high security facility in Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
.
Serdar Tatar is currently serving his 33-year sentence at the United States Penitentiary, Tucson
United States Penitentiary, Tucson
United States Penitentiary, Tucson is a prison operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons located in Tucson, Arizona. Located southeast of Downtown Tucson near Interstate 10 and Wilmot Road, the institution is part of a larger Federal Correctional Complex that includes Federal Correctional...
, a high security prison in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
; he is scheduled for release in 2036.
Agron Abdullahu was released from federal prison on March 24, 2009.
Chronology of events
- January 31, 2006 – An individual brings a tape to a Circuit City in New Jersey for duplication and transfer to DVD. The video features 10 young men conducting militiaMilitiaThe term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
style assault training shooting their weapons at a firing range while shouting "God is greatTakbirThe Takbīr or Tekbir is the Arabic term for the phrase ' . It is usually translated "God is [the] Greatest," or "God is Great". It is a common Islamic Arabic expression...
". The Circuit City employee, Brian Morgenstern, who saw the video contacted the Mt. Laurel Police who in turn contacted the FBI. - By April 2006, the FBI hired informant Mahmoud Omar to approach the accused.
- August 11, 2006 – Shnewer travels to Fort Dix and Fort MonmouthFort MonmouthFort Monmouth was an installation of the Department of the Army in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The post is surrounded by the communities of Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Oceanport, New Jersey, and is located about 5 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The post covers nearly of land, from the Shrewsbury...
to conduct surveillance. - August 13, 2006 – Shnewer travels to Dover Air Force BaseDover Air Force BaseDover Air Force Base or Dover AFB is a United States Air Force base located two miles southeast of the city of Dover, Delaware.-Units:...
, Delaware to conduct surveillance. - August 13, 2006 – Shnewer travels to the U.S. Coast Guard building in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
to conduct surveillance. - August 16, 2006 – Shnewer travels to Naval Air Engineering Station LakehurstNaval Air Engineering Station LakehurstJB MDL Lakehurst is a United States Navy base located approximately south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Lakehurst is under the jurisdiction of the Naval Air Systems Command...
to conduct surveillance. - November 28, 2006 – Serdar Tatar, who had delivered pizza to Fort Dix before, obtains a map of the Fort Dix military installation through his employer's pizza delivery restaurant, which services the military base.
- February 2, 2007 – Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka and Sulayman Shain Duka conduct weapons training in Gouldsboro, PennsylvaniaGouldsboro, PennsylvaniaGouldsboro is a small village located in Lehigh Township in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.Parts of Clifton Township, Thornhurst Township, and Covington Township in Lackawanna County, as well as a very small portion of Coolbaugh Township in Monroe County are serviced by the Gouldsboro Post Office, and...
. - February 4, 2007 – Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka and Sulayman Shain Duka review terrorist training materials.
- February 26, 2007 – Dritan Duka and Eljvir Duka conduct weapons training in Cherry HillCherry Hill, New JerseyCherry Hill is a township in Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a population of 71,045, representing an increase of 1,080 from the 69,965 residents enumerated during the 2000 Census...
, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. - March 15, 2007 – Dritan Duka and Sulayman Shain Duka conduct weapons training in Cherry HillCherry Hill, New JerseyCherry Hill is a township in Camden County, New Jersey, in the United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a population of 71,045, representing an increase of 1,080 from the 69,965 residents enumerated during the 2000 Census...
, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. - April 16, 2007 – Dritan Duka contacts an arms dealer (an FBI informant) for weaponry.
- May 7, 2007 – The FBI arrests six members of the group.
- December 22, 2008 - A federal jury finds five of the six alleged plotters guilty of conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism and weapons charges.
Retrieved hard drive
On the hard driveHard disk
A hard disk drive is a non-volatile, random access digital magnetic data storage device. It features rotating rigid platters on a motor-driven spindle within a protective enclosure. Data is magnetically read from and written to the platter by read/write heads that float on a film of air above the...
of a retrieved laptop, the downloaded last will and testament of two September 11
September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
hijackers
Organizers of the September 11, 2001 attacks
The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers affiliated with al-Qaeda. The hijackers were organized into four teams, each led by a pilot-trained hijacker with four "muscle hijackers", who were trained to help subdue the pilots, passengers, and crew.The first hijackers to arrive in the...
and militant Islamist recruiting speeches given by Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and others were allegedly recovered.
See also
- Lackawanna Six
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement
- Joint Terrorism Task ForceJoint Terrorism Task ForceA Joint Terrorism Task Force is a partnership between various U.S. law enforcement agencies that is charged with taking action against terrorism, which includes the investigation of crimes such as wire fraud and identity theft...
- 2006 Toronto terrorism case2006 Toronto terrorism caseThe 2006 Ontario terrorism case refers to the plotting of a series of attacks against targets in Southern Ontario, Canada, and the June 2, 2006, counter-terrorism raids in and around the Greater Toronto Area that resulted in the arrest of 18 people found to be Al-Qaeda members of an Islamic...
- 2009 Fort Hood shootingFort Hood shootingThe Fort Hood shooting was a mass shooting that took place on November 5, 2009, at Fort Hood, the most populous U.S. military installation in the world, located just outside Killeen, Texas. In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and wounded 29 others...
- 2009 Lloyd R. WoodsonLloyd R. WoodsonLloyd R. Woodson is an American whose arrest in central New Jersey on January 25, 2010 received national attention in the United States. Woodson was armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle and was wearing a military-grade ballistic vest at the time of his arrest...
case—Arrested with military-grade illegal weapons he intended to use in a violent crime, and a detailed map of the Fort DrumFort DrumFort Drum is a United States Army base in New York near the Canadian border.Fort Drum may also refer to:*Fort Drum, Florida, a nearly-uninhabited town in the United States*Fort Drum , Philippines...
military installation - 2009 Little Rock military recruiting office shooting2009 Little Rock recruiting office shootingThe 2009 Little Rock recruiting office shooting took place on June 1, 2009, when Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, aka Carlos Leon Bledsoe, opened fire with a rifle in a drive-by shooting on soldiers in front of a United States military recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a...
, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula-inspired attack by Yemen-trained jihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
i - Naser Jason AbdoNaser Jason AbdoNaser Jason Abdo is a Muslim US Army Private First Class who is currently being held without bond for possession of an unregistered firearm and allegedly planning to attack a restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood.-Early life:Abdo grew up in Garland, Texas and attended Richardson Terrace...