Six men have been arrested in a plot to attack the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey with automatic weapons and kill as many people as possible, federal authorities said today. The U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said four of the "Islamic militants" are Albanian, one is Jordanian and one is Turkish. Five of them lived in Cherry Hill, NJ. WNBC in New York broke the story this morning.
Authorities think the men trained in the Poconos and scoped out several military bases in the area, WNBC reported on its web site. Three of the six may have been in the country illegally and one is a U.S. citizen, according to a report in the Washington Post. Federal officials declined to provide further information about the men's backgrounds but said there is no evidence yet that they are connected to a broader terrorists organization.
The men were arrested when they tried to buy automatic weapons in a sting set up by police. Authorities had been investigating the men for a year, ever since a video store employee contacted them about a customer who wanted to copy a video to DVD showing men firing assault weapons while screaming "Allah Akbar!"
The FBI soon infiltrated the cell with two paid informants, who learned that, along with Fort Dix, the men had scouted Fort Monmouth and Lakehurst Naval Air Engineering Station in New Jersey, as well as Dover A.F.B in Delaware. Members of the cell sat around watching Osama bin Laden tapes and laughing at injuries suffered by American troops in combat. The group also considered an attack on the annual Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia.
The Smoking Gun has posted the detailed FBI affidavit, which was filed today in U.S. District Court in Camden.
