Monday, March 31, 2008

Arms Supplier in Fort Dix Plot Gets 20 Months

Some may remember a plot that was foiled when 6 foreign-born Muslims were arrested for planning to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey, back in May of 2007.

The 6 men were arrested and accused of plotting to attack the Army's Fort Dix and massacre scores of U.S. soldiers and the men even took a video of themselves firing assault weapons to a store to have the footage put onto a DVD.

At the time, J.P. Weis, a FBI said, "Today we dodged a bullet. In fact, when you look at the type of weapons that this group was trying to purchase, we may have dodged a lot of bullets. "We had a group that was forming a platoon to take on an army. They identified their target, they did their reconnaissance. They had maps. And they were in the process of buying weapons. Luckily, we were able to stop that."

Today, Agron Abdullahu, an Albanian immigrant who obtained arms for that group was sentenced to 20 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler.

Abdullahu had admitted to supplying rifles, shotguns and a pistol to five others, including three illegal immigrants that had been involved with the foiled Fort Dix plot. he also claimed he was not involved in the plot against Fort Dix itself.

He went on to apologize for the pain he caused and claimed that he would have broken off his association with the other suspects if he had known what they were going to do, saying, "If I had known they were going to do anything of the sort, that would have been the end of that."

Prosecutors had fought to sentence Abdullahu to a five year maximum sentence for the charge of supplying guns and ammunition to illegal aliens.

Judge Kugler said that Abdullahu deserved more than the 10 to 16 months that sentencing guidelines call for, stating, "I am convinced that he is not as innocent as he'd like us to believe. This is not a common, ordinary, technical violation of the law."

The judge further asserted that although there was no evidence showing that Abdullahu knew of the specific plot against Fort Dix, that he had become to close to the men involved with the plot and that according to tapes offered into evidence, he did join in conversations that frequently referenced "jihad," or Islamic holy war, against the United States.

Yet the judge did not even give Abdullahu half the amount of time the maximum sentence would have imposed and with time served and credit for good behavior, it is possible that Abdullahu would be released by the end of this year. He could then face deportation.

But the judge noted that Abdullahu, 25, had been a hard-working immigrant with no criminal record who had supported his family when they fled to the United States as refugees from ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia in 1999.

Kugler highlighted a letter he had received from the defendant's parents describing the "gripping and harrowing tale" of the family's flight from Serbian forces who were killing ethnic Albanian civilians, an experience that gave Abdullahu post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.


The other five men accused of plotting to kill US soldiers at Fort Dix are scheduled for trial beginning on September 29, 2008.

20 months for obtaining weapons for Jihadists that were planning a massacre at Fort Dix against the US troops stationed there.

Some would claim this is a perfect example of the US court system being completely unprepared to deal with court cases that pertain to terror acts against the United States of America.

Here is the original 23 page criminal complaint against Abdullahu.

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