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May 17, 2007 8:31 pm US/Eastern
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Fort Dix Terror Suspect Denied Bail
Agron Abdullahu Told Judge He Wasn't 'A Bad Guy'
FORT DIX, N.J. (CBS/AP) ―
Of the six men arrested last week and charged with roles in a plot to attack soldiers on Fort Dix, Agron Abdullahu was different.
He was accused of a lesser offense that carries a lighter penalty. The government even said he told the others that an attack would be "crazy."
But that was not enough to persuade a judge on Thursday to let him post bail and await trial in his family's Cape Cod-style home in southern New Jersey.
U.S. Magistrate Joel Schneider ruled Abdullahu, 24, should be sent back to the federal detention center in Philadelphia.
"He was an integral part of the plan to attack Fort Dix," Schneider said as he explained his decision.
Schneider agreed with federal prosecutors who argued that Abdullahu was both at risk of fleeing the country and a potential danger to the community.
He and five other men -- Ibrahim Shnewer, 22; Serdar Tatar, 23; Dritan "Anthony" or "Tony" Duka, 28; Shain Duka, 26; and Eljvir "Elvis" Duka, 23 -- were arrested on May 7. Authorities said they were planning to get access to Fort Dix and kill as many soldiers as they could.
While the others face life in prison if they are convicted of conspiring to kill military personnel, the maximum sentence for Abdullahu is 10 years.
He is charged with supplying guns to illegal aliens.
The government says it has video of him with guns -- and even teaching the others to shoot -- taken in the Pocono mountains in 2006 and 2007.
Prosecutors say the trips to the Pennsylvania vacation spot were training for an attack.
Abdullahu's public defender, Lisa Evans Lewis, said they were vacations that involved shooting weapons -- some of which were legally owned by Abdullahu.
Schneider rejected that argument -- and Lewis' contention that her client did not know the specifics of a plot on the Army installation.
When there was discussion of an attack, Lewis said, he spoke against it. "He made it clear he was not down with that program," she said.
Schneider, however, said Abdullahu made a mistake by continuing to associate with the others -- and by letting them use his weapons.
"It defies logic not to infer the firearms were going to be used in serious illegal activity," he said.
In an unusual move, Abdullahu himself asked a judge to let him post bail and be allowed to return to his family's home -- even with tight restrictions.
"I'm not really a bad guy," Abdullahu told the magistrate. "If I could leave I would definitely go back to my old life ... I would never do anything to harm this country."
Abdullahu's parents, sister and a former boss also testified about his work ethic, his kindness and his love for the United States, which took in the family after they fled from war-torn Kosovo eight years ago.
As his family spoke, Abdullahu looked down and at one point appeared to cry.
They said they needed him back because, although he is only 24, he was the main provider for the family, using money he made working 60- to 70-hour weeks in the bakery of a supermarket. He fixed the family's broken cars and even bought his 21-year-old sister a car, they said.
"His dog is screaming every day because he is not home now," Abdullahu's father, Sejdulla Abdullahu, told the judge.
Raymond Million, a former boss and friend who was willing to post the equity in his home as part of a bail package, also spoke on Abdullahu's behalf Thursday.
"You don't find a man that has the character that he has," Million said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)