« em: Maio 08, 2007, 07:56:08 pm »
Seis homens oriundos da antiga Jugoslávia foram detidos em Nova Jérsia, sob suspeita de estarem a preparar um ataque contra soldados na base de Fort Dix
O FBI acredita que o grupo estava a planear entrar em Fort Dix com armas automáticas e matar o maior número possível de soldados americanos.
Segundo os media americanos, a conspiração já estaria em fase avançada de preparação, com o grupo a treinar numa área montanhosa da Pensilvânia.
Os suspeitos, com nacionalidade de um país da antiga Jugoslávia (não especificado pelas autoridades), vão hoje ser presentes a tribunal em Camdem, Nova Jérsia.
SOL com agências
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Six „Islamic radicals” involved in a plot to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix in New Jersey were arrested Monday night, the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey said Tuesday.
One of the suspects was born in Jordan, another in Turkey, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. The rest are believed to be Yugoslavian, „either U.S. citizens or living illegally in the United States,” the office said in a statement.
„Their alleged intention was to conduct an armed assault on the army base and to kill as many soldiers as possible,” according to the statement.
The six are expected to appear in U.S. District Court in Camden on Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a statement.
The district attorney scheduled a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss the case.
The men were planning to use automatic weapons to shoot soldiers at the Army post, according to a federal law enforcement source and a senior government source.
The men, some of whom were related to each other, had been doing surveillance and planning „for a while,” and they trained in the Poconos Mountains in northeastern Pennsylvania, according to the federal law enforcement source.
They played paintball and test-fired weapons, a law enforcement source said.
New Jersey state troopers and the FBI were involved in investigating and arresting the suspects. An informant played a key role in the investigation, the sources said.
One of the sources said there is a video and an audiotape of the planning.
The Newark Star-Ledger reported on its Web site that the men took a videotape of their practice sessions to a store to have it burned to a DVD, and that a store employee contacted the FBI because of the video's contents.
Sources told the Star-Ledger the men were lured to a meeting with an FBI informant posing as an arms dealer. The newspaper's sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
While authorities are glad to have arrested them, the individuals are „hardly hard core terrorists,” one law enforcement source said.
Another source said that while the allegations are „troubling,” they are „not the type that made the hair on the back of your neck stand up.”
Fort Dix is an Army installation that trains and mobilizes reserves, National Guard and active soldiers going to war.
It was used in 1999 to house ethnic Albanian refugees from Kosovo, according to the Defense Department Web site.
CNN's Kevin Bohn and Kelli Arena contributed to this report.
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