Testimony opens in Fort Dix plot trial

CAMDEN, N.J., Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Jurors in the trial of five men charged with a plot to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey saw FBI video Tuesday of two brothers allegedly trying to buy weapons.

The tape showed Drita and Shain Duka examining weapons in an informant's apartment in Cherry Hill, N.J., the New York Daily News reported. Shortly after the brothers hear a siren and one suggests closing the blinds, they are interrupted by an FBI SWAT team.

Shain and Drita Duka, a third brother, Eljvir, Serdar Tatar and Ibrahim Shnewer are on trial in federal court in Camden, N.J., on charges that include attempted murder and conspiracy to kill military personnel. The Duka brothers are illegal immigrants from Albania, Tatar from Turkey was legally resident in the United States and the Jordanian-born Shnewer was a naturalized citizen.

The prosecution opened Tuesday with testimony from Col. Ronald Thaxton, the Fort Dix commander, who described the base. Under cross-examination, Thaxton acknowledged that public access to the base is easy and the military even posts maps online, although he said they are not detailed.