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Timeline of events in Fort Dix attack plot
May 8, 2007, 3:13 PM EDT
AP New Jersey
A timeline of events leading up to the arrest Monday night of six Islamic militants who allegedly planned to attack Fort Dix:
Jan. 31, 2006: A shopkeeper alerted the FBI about a "disturbing" video he had been asked to copy onto a DVD. The video showed 10 young men in their early 20s shooting assault weapons at a firing range earlier that month. The group called for jihad (a holy war) and shouted in Arabic 'Allah Akbar' (God is great).
_ March: An FBI informant infiltrated the group by developing a relationship with Mohamad Shnewer.
_ May 26: Shnewer told the informant to look at particular DVD files on his laptop. One file contained what appeared to be the last will and testament of at least two of the hijackers involved in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; another contained images of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic extremists calling on the viewer to join the jihadist movement.
_ July 7: A second informant was approached by six men, one of whom, later identified as Eljvir Duka, invited the informant to his home.
_ July 29: In a meeting recorded by the second informant, Shnewer showed several videos on his laptop computer that depicted armed attacks on U.S. military personnel.
_ Aug. 1, 2 and 5: Shnewer told the first informant that he, Serdar Tatar, Dritan Duka, Eljvir Duka, Shain Duka and others were planning to attack a U.S. military base, and Shnewer specifically named Fort Dix, explaining that they could kill at least 100 soldiers by using rocket-propelled grenades.
_ Aug. 5: Shnewer told the first informant they need to conduct surveillance of military bases to decide which one to attack.
_ Aug. 11: Shnewer and the first informant traveled to Fort Dix to conduct surveillance. During the trip, Shnewer told the informant the plan was to "hit four, five, six Humvees and light the whole place (up) and retreat completely without any losses." The two also drove to Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Law enforcement officers also observed Shnewer drive by himself to Fort Monmouth later that day.
_ Aug. 13: Shnewer and the first informant drove to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. While there, Shnewer decided the base would be too difficult to attack because of its high security. The two left the base and drove past the U.S. Coast Guard building in Philadelphia.
_ Oct. 31: Serdar Tatar discussed Fort Dix with the first informant and said he would supply a map of the Army post.
_ Nov. 12: Tatar told the first informant he would acquire a map of Fort Dix from his father's restaurant and described an area of the post which they could attack and cause a power outage, making it easier to mount the attack on military personnel. At the end of the meeting, Tatar asked if the informant was a federal agent. (It was unclear how the informant responded.)
_ Nov. 15: In an attempt to find out if the informant was a federal agent, Tatar told a sergeant with the Philadelphia Police Department that he had been approached by an individual who asked him to provide maps of Fort Dix and that he thought the incident was terrorist-related.
_ Nov. 28: Tatar told the first informant that he would provide a map of Fort Dix even though it could lead to his being deported. He expressed his continuing suspicions about the informant, saying, "I'm gonna do it. Whether you are or not (FBI), I'm gonna do it. Know why? ... It doesn't matter to me, whether I get locked up, arrested, or get taken away, it doesn't matter. Or I die, doesn't matter, I'm doing it in the name of Allah." Later that evening, Tatar left a map of Fort Dix in an area near the informant's residence.
_ Nov. 29: The first informant gave the map to law enforcement officers, who made copies and returned the original to him.
_ Dec. 7: FBI agents interviewed Tatar, who denied being part of the plot, providing the map or knowing any of the parties involved.
_ Dec. 8: Shnewer told the first informant that the group had missed an opportunity to attack military personnel at the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia the previous weekend.
_ Dec. 29: Shnewer told members of the group that he had hidden the map of Fort Dix in his mother's car.
_ Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2007: Law enforcement officers observed members of the group going in and out of Dritan Duka's residence in Cherry Hill, at times carrying dark-colored, rifle-style bags. In conversations taped by the second informant, several members were heard testing the action on the weapons.
_ Feb. 1: The second informant traveled with several members of the group to a house the Duka brothers rented in Gouldsboro, Pa.
_ Feb. 2: Law enforcement officials observed several members of the group firing weapons at the same firearms range in the Poconos they had used in the Jan. 3 video. The following day, an undercover FBI agent who had observed the group at the range encountered Eljvir and Dritan Duka at a local convenience store. Eljvir Duka asked the undercover agent if he knew where to purchase AK-47 and M-16 firearms.
Feb. 4: Shnewer and the first informant arrived at the house in Gouldsboro. During their trip back to New Jersey the next day, Shnewer spoke of attacking two American warships next year when they docked in Philadelphia.
_ Feb. 18: In a discussion with the first informant, Dritan Duka discussed training for the attack by playing paintball. Eight days later, several members of the group participated in a paintball training exercise in the woods near the Duka's house in Cherry Hill.
_ Feb. 26: Eljvir Duka told the first informant that Dritan Duka attempted to buy an AK-47 machine gun in Camden but did not go through with the purchase because he thought the seller was a federal agent.
_ March 10: Shain Duka told the second informant that Tatar wanted to join the U.S. Army so he could kill U.S. soldiers "from the inside." Duka also told the informant that the group had decided to wage jihad in the United States rather than overseas because "as far as people we have enough, seven people. And we are all crazy. That's what is needed."
_ March 16: After members of the group traveled back to Cherry Hill, Shnewer discussed with the first informant the possibility of attacking the Navy base in Philadelphia during the annual Army-Navy football game, saying the location made it vulnerable to attack from New Jersey.
_ March 28: At a meeting at a convenience store on Route 38 in Cherry Hill, the first informant gave Dritan Duka a list of weapons that could be acquired. The list, which the informant copied for law enforcement officials, included "AK-47, M-16, M-60 machine gun, RPG, Rocket, Handgun semiautomatic, Sig Sauer 9mm, Smith Wesson 9mm, Smith Wesson revolver."
_ March 28-April 27: In various conversations and meetings recorded by both informants, members of the group discussed the types of weapons they needed, how much they would cost and when they would be delivered.
*Source: Federal complaints filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Camden.
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