Fort Dix informant's credibility slammed

CAMDEN, N.J., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- An FBI informant waiting to testify against three men accused of plotting a terror attack on Fort Dix, N.J., has a checkered past, defense attorneys say.

Besnik Bakalli, one of two men recruited by the FBI to infiltrate an alleged terror plot by three Yugoslavian immigrant brothers now on trial in Camden, N.J., has a history of illegally entering the United States from his native Albania, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday.

Defense attorneys for the accused brothers and two other co-defendants say they question what kind of deal Bakalli struck with prosecutors in exchange for agreeing to befriend the accused men and secretly tape record them.

The attorneys contend Bakalli and another FBI informant, Mahmoud Omar, goaded the defendants into planning an assault on the Fort Dix Army base when they never intended to so on their own.

The newspaper said federal authorities have refused to reveal much about their deal Bakalli, except to say that he and his family will receive help in pending deportation cases. Prosecutors say the FBI has paid Omar, who was facing bad check charges, about $240,000 for his cooperation.