Thread: Duka brothers,life terms for plotting Fort Dix attack

Posted on Tue, Apr. 28, 2009


Duka brothers get life terms for plotting Fort Dix attack
By Troy Graham



Three of the five men convicted of plotting an armed attack on Fort Dix were sentenced to life in prison today.

The Duka brothers, Eljvir, Dritan and Shain, maintained their innocence before sentencing in federal court in Camden. Defendants Mohamad Shnewer and Serdar Tatar are scheduled for sentencing tomorrow.

The men, all foreign-born Muslims raised primarily in Cherry Hill, were acquitted after an eight-week trial of attempted murder, but convicted on conspiracy charges.

Dritan and Shain Duka were sentenced to an additional 30 years apiece on a gun charge.

Prosecutors said the men planned to use a pizza-delivery pass to get on the Army base and open fire on soldiers.

The case was built with the help of two FBI informants, who infiltrated the group and recorded hundreds of hours of conversations. All five were arrested in May 2007 after Dritan and Shain Duka attempted to buy rifles from one of the informants.

Although the men made numerous damning statements on the recordings about wanting to kill soldiers, and repeatedly voiced their frustrations with the plight of Muslims overseas, defense attorneys argued that their clients never intended to carry out an attack. They described the defendants as alienated young men full of bluster, but incapable of taking action.

If the sentencing judge accepts the prosecution argument that the men committed a crime of terrorism, then a life sentence is practically guaranteed.


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/break ... ttack.html

5th plotter in Fort Dix case gets 33-year sentence

April 29, 2009, 12:57PM

CAMDEN, N.J. — The fifth man convicted of plotting to kill military personnel at Fort Dix in New Jersey has been sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Twenty-five-year-old Philadelphia convenience store clerk Serdar Tatar (SEHR'-dar tah-TAR') had less involvement in the plot than the four other convicted men. Those four received life sentences in hearings over the last two days.

Tatar's main role was providing a map of Fort Dix. He got it from his father's pizza shop near the Army installation in New Jersey.

Tatar's lawyer argued that he should get a lighter sentence than the others. U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said Wednesday that Tatar lacked the religious fervor of the others and could be rehabilitated in prison.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/ ... 98986.html