Suspected terrorist
had ties to Northeast

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

A Northeast Philadelphia man was one of six suspected terrorists rounded up by federal agents last week as part of an investigation of an alleged plot to murder U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix Army Base.
Serdar Tatar, 23, of the 2100 block of Tremont St., supplied the alleged conspirators with a map of the Burlington County, N.J., military base that he obtained from a pizza place operated by his family nearby, according to a criminal complaint against the men.
Tatar, identified by authorities as a native of Turkey legally residing in the U.S., previously delivered pizzas to the base from his family’s eatery. Most recently, he worked at a 7-Eleven in North Philadelphia.
Tatar also took part in a January 2006 terrorist training camp in the Pocono Mountains town of Gouldsboro, Pa., the complaint states. Authorities were tipped off to the alleged scheme when one of the conspirators sought to have a video of the training camp transferred into DVD format at a retail business.
The tape allegedly depicted 10 men shooting assault weapons at a firing range while calling for a Muslim holy war, or "jihad," and shouting in Arabic "Allah Akbar" or "God is great." A clerk at the business viewed the tape and notified the FBI.
The report triggered a 15-month investigation in which the FBI infiltrated the alleged conspiracy with two cooperating witnesses and conducted surveillance of the suspects.
During a recorded conversation with a cooperating witness, suspected ringleader Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer allegedly said, "If you want to do anything here, there is Fort Dix and I don’t want to exaggerate, and I assure you that you can hit an American base very easily.
"You take a map and draw it and then you calculate that there are areas where there are 100 [to] 200 individuals and you should allocate six [to] seven persons for this alone."
In another recorded conversation, Shnewer allegedly commented, "Serdar, he used to deliver there … Why did I choose Fort Dix? Because I know that Serdar knows it like the palm of his hand."
In addition to Fort Dix, the suspects allegedly discussed attacking and or scouted for possible attack, Lakehurst Naval Air Station and Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the Naval Base in South Philadelphia. Also, the men allegedly lamented missing an opportunity to attack the annual Army-Navy football game when thousands of military personnel gathered at Lincoln Financial Field.
"My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers," Shnewer allegedly told a witness.
According to the criminal complaint, Tatar began to suspect that one of the cooperating witnesses was working for the FBI and at one point contacted Philadelphia police in an apparent effort to out the witness.
Tatar told a police officer that someone had approached him seeking to obtain maps of Fort Dix and that he feared that the request was related to terrorism. Later, Tatar allegedly confronted the witness with his suspicions but vowed to supply the map, anyway.
"I’m gonna do it. Whether you are or not (with the FBI), I’m gonna do it," Tatar allegedly said. "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."
Another time, according to the complaint, Tatar expressed concern for the fate of his family once the men carried out their plan.
Federal agents swooped in on the suspects shortly after 9 p.m. on May 7 when two of the alleged plotters tried to buy AK-47 and M-16 assault rifles from an FBI informant inside of a Cherry Hill apartment.
Within minutes, agents raided Tatar’s apartment in the Northeast, as well as two Cherry Hill homes and a Collings Lakes, N.J., home.
The other suspects include:
• Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill, a native of Jordan and U.S. citizen. Authorities described the Philadelphia taxi driver as the ringleader.
• Dritan Duka, 28, of Cherry Hill, a native of the former Yugoslavia and longtime U.S. resident who had lost his legal residency status. Duka is the oldest of three brothers linked to the conspiracy. All are roofers.
• Shain Duka, 26, of Cherry Hill. He also is a native of Yugoslavia illegally living in the U.S.
• Eljvr Duka, 23, of Cherry Hill. Like his brothers, he is a Yugoslavia native illegally living in the U.S.
• Agron Abdullahu, 24, of Buena Vista Township, N.J. A native of the former Yugoslavia, he is a legal U.S. resident and supermarket employee.
Tatar, Shnewer and the three Dukas are charged with conspiracy to murder members of the uniformed services, a charge that carries a possible punishment of life in prison.
Abdullahu is charged with the lesser offense of aiding and abetting the illegal possession of weapons, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
All six suspects are being prosecuted in New Jersey’s U.S. District Court and held without bail at Philadelphia’s Federal Detention Center. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com