2007 Fort Dix attack plot

2007 Fort Dix attack plot
Location	Fort Dix, New Jersey, U.S.
Date	Planned; never executed; arrested May 8, 2007
Target	U.S. military personnel at Fort Dix
Attack type	Conspiracy

The 2007 Fort Dix attack plot involved a group of six Muslim men who were found guilty of conspiring to stage an attack against U.S. Military personnel stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The alleged goal 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.

Some accuse the FBI of entrapment, stating that the FBI informants created the conspiracy. The FBI used two convicts as paid informants in the case, one of whom was fighting deportation. The three Duka brothers are appealing. Because of alleged irregularities with the case, the three Duka brothers, Shnewer, and Abdullahu have been referred to as the Fort Dix Five.

The brothers had a history of encounters with police. Between 1996 and 2006, Cherry Hill police charged Dritan and Shain Duka with a number of disorderly persons offenses, including marijuana possession, improper behavior, prowling, disturbing the peace, 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.

In court, central FBI informant Mahmoud Omar confessed that Shain and Dritan did not know about the plan to attack Fort Dix. Seven years after the trial, Omar stated, "I still don’t know why the Dukas are in jail." Omar was ultimately paid $238,000 for his role in the case. The Duka brothers are all serving life sentences.

The six men took a trip to the Poconos mountains, 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 great"). They had also recorded themselves skiing, playing paintball, and riding horses on their trip to Poconocos. The defense argued it was not a terrorist training video.

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Wikipedia