Fort Dix Plotters Found Guilty

This week, a federal jury in Camden, New Jersey found five men planning to mount a terrorist attack against soldiers at the Fort Dix military base guilty of conspiracy, but not guilty of attempted murder. The men, Muslim immigrants who lived in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area, face an April 2009 sentencing where they could get life. Recall that the plot was uncovered by a Circuit City employee who notified authorities about some suspicious video footage. Subsequently, "the FBI asked two informants — both foreign-born men who entered the U.S. illegally and had criminal records — to befriend the suspects. Both informants were paid and were offered help obtaining legal resident status. During the eight-week trial, the government relied heavily on information gathered by the informants, who secretly recorded hundreds of conversations." The jury rendered its verdict on December 22 after about a week of deliberations.