Terrorist Cell Captured in New Jersey Plot
by Jim Kouri, CPP
Five radical Islamists — three of them brothers — have been arrested and charged with plotting to kill as many soldiers as possible in an armed assault at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey, according to agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A sixth defendant is charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of firearms by three of the members of the group.
The arrests occurred last night in Cherry Hill as two of the defendants were meeting a confidential government witness to purchase three AK-47 automatic machine guns and four semi-automatic M-16s to be used in an attack they had been planning from at least January 2006, according to criminal Complaints unsealed this morning.
Some members of the group allegedly conducted surveillance at Fort Dix and also at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia. The co-conspirators obtained a detailed map of Fort Dix, where they said they hoped to use assault rifles and rocket propelled grenades to kill as many soldiers as possible.
They also did small-arms training at a shooting range in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and distributed training videos amongst themselves that included depictions of American soldiers being killed and known foreign Islamic radicals urging jihad against the United States.
“The individuals arrested today present an alarming example of the need to maintain a vigilant stance towards those who would do us harm,” said Julie Myers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary. “This case is an excellent example of how ICE immigration investigative authorities are making the country safer.”
“The actions of these defendants posed a real threat to the safety and security of New Jersey citizens. We will remain steadfast in our focus on protecting New Jersey from the terrorist threat among us whether that threat is against everyday citizens or our men and women in uniform.”
“This case underscores the need for continued vigilance against threats within our borders,” said Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “While these defendants are not charged with being members of an international terrorism organization, their involvement in weapons training, operational surveillance and discussions about killing American military personnel warranted a strong law enforcement response.”
The five defendants are each charged with conspiracy to murder members of the uniformed services, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of imprisonment for any term of years or for life. All six defendants were to appear this afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider in federal court in Camden, where the government would be seeking their detention without bail.
The investigation began on Jan. 31, 2006, after the FBI received a video recording showing the six individuals charged in the Complaint and four other men firing assault weapons in militia-like style at a Poconos shooting range. The recording depicted them calling for holy war (jihad) and shouting “God is great” in Arabic. The recording was recovered after one of the plotters took the videotape to a retail establishment seeking to have it converted into a DVD. According to the Complaint, the DVD was to be distributed and used as a training tool.
Alarmed by what they had seen on the videotape, store employees contacted the FBI. After the recording was turned over to the FBI, agents used a confidential witness (CW) to infiltrate the group. The CW convinced the plotters that he had the same jihadist goals and that he could get them weaponry needed to carry out the assault at Fort Dix.
Two of the defendants — Dritan Duka and Shain Duka — were arrested at a residence in Cherry Hill last night as they arrived to purchase the AK-47s and M-16s as previously arranged with the CW. (The weapons provided by the FBI for the controlled purchase were inoperable.) Eljvir Duka was arrested at Dritan Duka’s residence; the other three at their respective residences. All of the arrests and court-authorized searches of the residences were conducted beginning about 9 p.m. last night. The defendants are as follows:
Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill. He was born in Jordan, is a U.S. citizen and is employed as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia.
Eljvir Duka, 23, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. “Elvis Duka,” a.k.a. “Sulayman,” was born in the former Yugoslavia. Duka is illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as Qadr. Inc., Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, all of which list business addresses the same as his residence.
Dritan Duka, 28, of Cherry Hill, a.k.a. “Distan Duka,” a.k.a. “Anthony Duka,” a.k.a. “Tony Duka.” He was born in the former Yugoslavia, is illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, both which list business addresses at the residence of defendants Eljvir Duka and Shain Duka. (All of the Dukas charged are brothers).
Shain Duka, 26, of the same address as Eljvir Duka in Cherry Hill, a.k.a. “Shaheen,” was born in the former Yugoslavia. Shain Duka is illegally residing in the U.S. and operates businesses known as Colonial Roofing and National Roofing, both which list business addresses the same as his residence.
Serdar Tatar, 23, of Philadelphia, was born in Turkey. Tatar is legally residing in the U.S. His last know employment was at a 7-Eleven convenience store in Philadelphia.
Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County, was born in the former Yugoslavia. Abdullahu is legally residing in the U.S. and is employed at a Shop-Rite Supermarket.
The Duka brothers and Abdullahu are ethnic Albanians born in the former Yugoslavia. Abdullahu is charged only with aiding and abetting the Duka brothers’ illegal possession of weapons, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison. Each of the Duka brothers are also charged with being illegal aliens in possession of firearms, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The CW, following his infiltration of the Duka Organization, recorded numerous conversations with the defendants, in which they discussed tactics, surveillance and plans for attacking U.S. military bases and killing soldiers, radical theology and hatred of America and support of jihad.
On Aug. 11, 2006, for example, Shnewer was recorded by the CW as Shnewer described his and the group’s intentions in an attack at Ft. Dix: “My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers…. This is exactly what we are looking for. You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place [up] and retreat completely without any losses.”
Repeatedly, Shnewer was recorded saying that he knew what they were doing was illegal and that their activities had to be hidden. In one instance, Shnewer allegedly showed a DVD from his computer to the CW, telling the CW it had to be done in private because, “It’s about something that can lead to prison.” The DVD depicted various jihadist images while a narrator recruits the observer to the jihadist movement.
Shnewer at one point gave his laptop computer to the CW with the instruction that he look at certain video files, according to the Complaint. (The FBI copied the hard drive before it was returned to Shnewer.) Among them, according to the Complaint, was a file that appeared to depict the last will and testaments of two of the September 11 hijackers and another with images of Osama Bin Laden and other Islamic extremists calling the viewer to join the jihadist movement.
Officials credited the Special Agents of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division and the FBI South Jersey Joint Terrorism Task Force, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge J.P. Weis, in Philadelphia, for investigation of the case.
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he’s a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). He’s former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed “Crack City” by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He’s also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He’s a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He’s also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he’s syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He’s appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. His book Assume The Position is available at Amazon.Com. Kouri’s own website is located at http://jimkouri.us
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police and he's a staff writer for the New Media Alliance (thenma.org). In addition, he's the former editor for the House Conservatives Fund's weblog. Kouri also serves as political advisor for Emmy and Golden Globe winning actor Michael Moriarty. He's former chief at a New York City housing project in Washington Heights nicknamed "Crack City" by reporters covering the drug war in the 1980s. In addition, he served as director of public safety at a New Jersey university and director of security for several major organizations. He's also served on the National Drug Task Force and trained police and security officers throughout the country. Kouri writes for many police and security magazines including Chief of Police, Police Times, The Narc Officer and others. He's a news writer for TheConservativeVoice.Com and PHXnews.com. He's also a columnist for AmericanDaily.Com, MensNewsDaily.Com, MichNews.Com, and he's syndicated by AXcessNews.Com. He's appeared as on-air commentator for over 100 TV and radio news and talk shows including Oprah, McLaughlin Report, CNN Headline News, MTV, Fox News, etc. To subscribe to Kouri's newsletter write to COPmagazine@aol.com and write "Subscription" on the subject line. | More from Jim Kouri, CPP
Stumble It!
May 8th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
Yep…THe Muslims were dancing in the streets of PAtterson New Jersy on September 11, 2001.
Dancing in the streets.
Now the Backlash wll begin.
May 8th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Notice the Yugoslavia connection.
Notice how America made Europe Safe for Muslims in the Balkans. How Muslims were the “victims”, and now the ethnic cleansing story is coming apart.
Notice how every hot spot in the world in the 1990’s shown by Soldier of Fortune was an underlying Islamic Insurgency, or was about Diamonds.
Notice How Iran used Republican Guard insurgents to light up the Balkans.
Notice how it is not too far from Checnya.
Attack and watch Osama, while you hand Eurpoe to the Islamo-facists.
Thanks Clintons, you lackeys of the Elitists!
May 8th, 2007 at 7:27 pm
Yawn, not much of a mystery here. The Moozies are about killing people and taking their stuff, or forcing the dhimmiesto work for the mooze at slave rates. It’s the pursuit of heaven on earth and is doomed to failure yet increadibly seductive for the feeble-minded yet covetous. In that, no surprize that fools see license in doing damage to non-moozies as long as their deity gives them a pass. For a thousand years, moozies have sought to kill or enslave the non-moozies. As apposed to heretic pseudo-christian Royals in history THAT IS WHAT THE MOOZE BOOKS ARE ABOUT, ie the Hadith and the qweeran, and nobody should expect that those that take such thing literally will do what they have done any differently. No racism intended but until the last page of that Islamofascist crap is burned and the last believer in heaven on earth and kill-the-infidek-and-take-their-stuff assumes ambient temperature this will be a problem leading to bloodshed. Western culture will need to arm themselves and stamp out this social cancer or it will kill western culture. Either way one large group of people will need to destroy another large grpup o people. Can’t be helped and it’s already started and nothing will stop it….
May 8th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
I notice you did not use the word terrorist and I agree because they were attacking a military base. Our military better have their guard up. Terrorists attack civilians, women, and children. The Democrats and the civil rights trial lawyers are hoping the jihadists and terrorists are successful, here in the US. They want to get rich representing jihadists and representing the victims of their attacks, unless of course it is a suicide attack. In this case they will only represent the jihadists. If jihadists won’t be taken alive when we arrest them here, or if our military kills them outside the US the trial lawyers get nothing.
May 8th, 2007 at 8:27 pm
Chas:
An attack on a military base is unimportant other than symbolism. If you’ve ever been in the military, you know it’s much harder to access weapons than would be available in the home, one may as well shoot up a gradeschool. Pretty much a turkey-shoot, by sexually frustrated moozie whimpoids looking for easy acces sto virgins, I suspect.
Americans have gotten used to safety. Safety and comfort are not natural conditions regardless of what we’ve gotten used to over the recent past. In less effete times everyone who could brandish a weapon did so, for obvious reasons. Life is a contest for survival, and picking some applicalbe group oriented for survival was paramount. Someone, somewhere, has become determined for their own purposes to emasculate the last best hope for western cultural survival. This I can’t understand but its readily apparant that our survival seems to be in the way of some powerful entity that must believe some third pathway is available to them. Terrorist is noting but a value judgment. Terrorist is just a name applied to an active enemy by losers…
May 8th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Scary… I never thought they were soft targets. It’s hard to admit it but I guess I’m busted; I wasn’t in the military. I came of age just after Nixon pulled us out of Vietnam, and almost nobody was going into the military. I was a hippy then, for which I must do penance the rest of my life, to get out of purgatory. My dad was in the navy, my cousin has been in Iraq throughout this war, and my son is a marine who can’t tell me anything about what he does. My impression of military bases is from air shows I frequent. They always have lots of weapons very visible, MPs?
May 8th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
Chas:
Weapons available for view on base yes, ammo available? Nope. For some reason our soldiers are not trained to throw empty weapons at attackers!! Likely nobody on most bases is prepared for combat for obvious reasons. unless they maintain an active nuke weapon alert pad. MP’s probably as well armed as the local mall-ninjas. Base I was at had nukes on the aircraft on the alert pad, coulda been taken out with simple RPG’s or even a hunting rifle from the city street within seconds. Go figure, your tax dollars at work….
May 8th, 2007 at 10:49 pm
[...] time the FBI did the job right. The infiltrated the group and built a great case against them: Alarmed by what they had seen on the videotape, store employees contacted the FBI. [...]