Fort Dix prosecution witness called liar

CAMDEN, N.J., Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The main prosecution witness against five men accused of plotting an attack on Fort Dix, N.J., is a past liar and alleged fraud, a police witness conceded.

Under questioning from defense attorneys, John Stermel, a Delaware River Port Authority police officer and FBI anti-terrorism task force member, admitted in U.S. District Court Monday that chief prosecution witness Mahmoud Omar has lied to the FBI at times and once tried to flee to Canada when confronted with a criminal bank fraud investigation, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Omar was recruited by federal officials to infiltrate a group of men headed by defendant Mohamad Shnewer, who was suspected of plotting a jihad-inspired terrorist attack on Fort Dix. Omar knew Shnewer because he shopped at a food market his family ran in Pennsauken, N.J., the newspaper said.

Defense attorneys say Omar was motivated to goad Schnewer and the four other defendants into plotting a terror attack where none had existed in order to avoid his own legal troubles and to collect $237,873 in payments as a witness.

Prosecutors, however, say Omar merely exposed a plot that had already been set in motion.