PISCATAWAY, NJ - Atlantic and Warren counties have been designated eligible for federal assistance for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the April severe storms and flooding.

Federal funding is available through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA's) Public Assistance Program to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis.

The funding covers reimbursement costs for emergency debris removal and emergency protective measures and can fund the repair, restoration, reconstruction or replacement of public infrastructure such as roads and bridges, water control facilities, public buildings and contents, public utilities and parks and other recreational facilities damaged during a disaster.

Eleven counties were previously designated for Public Assistance under the disaster declaration of April 26. They are Bergen, Burlington, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex and Union.

See Friday's edition of The Press for complete coverage.

BUENA VISTA TOWNSHIP — Residents of this township's Collings Lakes section were shocked Tuesday at the arrest of one of their neighbors, a man federal authorities described as a former Kosovo sniper who is charged with helping men who were plotting to attack Fort Dix.

Agron Abdullahu, who neighbors said has lived at his Cains Mill Road house with his wife and children for less than three years, was charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of weapons. Authorities say he stored assault waepons and taught other men how to fire shotguns at a militia-style camp in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

Federal agents and other law-enforcement agencies searched the small Cape Cod-style house Abdullahu owns with his wife, Vaxide, on Monday night.

Neighbors marveled Tuesday afternoon at the number of news organizations in their neighborhood, saying they were surprised to hear that Abdullahu could be accused of such a crime.

“They're nice people,” Ed Nelson said. “That's it. That's all I know.”

According to neighbors, Agron and Vaxide Abdullahu live with four children, the youngest of whom is about 16. Along with one of their children, the elder Abdullahus both work at the ShopRite in Williamstown, neighbors said.

A pair of managers at the grocery store declined comment Tuesday.

Eva Spruill, another Collings Lakes neighbor, reported that her husband heard several helicopters flying overhead Monday night.

Kristi Farvour, who lives behind the Abdullahus, said she knew little about the family other than that the family's dog is named Max, the same as Farvour's pet.

She also said that the family, for the most part, kept to themselves, although she recalled one instance when she had to ask the younger Abdullahus to stop riding their all-terrain vehicles in the backyard because of the dust it was kicking into her backyard.

“All I know is that they're foreigners,” Farvour said.

Abdullahu had worked recently at a ShopRite, according to authorities. He worked as a bakery supervisor after emigrating to the United States from Kosovo, part of the former Yugoslavia, in 1999, said his cousin, Arsim Abdullahu, of New York City, in a telephone interview.

They last spoke by phone about seven months ago and have not seen each other for about five years, he said.

Arsim Abdullahu said he could not remember anything that would suggest his cousin would get involved in an alleged terrorist plot.

There were 10 men in their early 30s dressed in military garb, all shooting assault weapons at a Poconos firing range, all calling for jihad and shouting, “Allah Akbar.”

The clerk decided to make an extra copy for his local police department.

With that, federal law-enforcement authorities were tipped off to a plot by radical Islamists to kill as many soldiers as possible at the Army base at Fort Dix.

After following the homegrown terrorists for 16 months, federal authorities made five arrests in Cherry Hill late Monday night as two of the men involved in the plot attempted to buy three AK-47 automatic machine guns and four semi-automatic M-16s, according to criminal complaints unsealed Tuesday.

A sixth man, Agron Abdul-lahu, 24, was arrested in Collings Lakes and charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of weapons. A legal resident of Buena Vista Township, Abdullahu was born in the former Yugoslavia and, according to federal authorities, was once a sniper in Kosovo.

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie said he does not believe the suspects are connected to al-Qaida or any other international terrorist organization, but the training videos they watched made clear they were “educated and inspired” by them.

“The philosophy that supports and encourages jihad around the world came to live here in New Jersey,” Christie said at a news conference outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Camden. “Fortunately, law enforcement in New Jersey was here to stop them.”

Charged with conspiracy to murder members of the uniformed services are four Cherry Hill men — three of them brothers born in the former Yugoslavia and another from Jordan — and a Philadelphia man born in Turkey. All face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

They are:

n Eljvir “Elvis” Duka, 23, (alias Sulayman), Dritan Duka 28, and Shain Duka, 26, all ethnic Albanians born in the former Yugoslavia and living illegally in Cherry Hill. The three brothers all operated a roofing business, Qadr Inc., Colonial Roofing and National Roofing.

n Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill, a U.S. citizen, born in Jordan and employed as a taxicab driver in Philadelphia. He is Eljvir Duka's brother-in-law.

n Serdar Tatar, 23, of Philadelphia, born in Turkey and working at a 7-Eleven.

The Duka brothers are also charged with being illegal aliens in possession of firearms, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

The FBI began surveilling the group in February 2005, after they received the video from the store clerk. Less than two months later, an undercover government informant developed a relationship with Shnewer and was welcomed into the group. According to court documents, the informant recorded chilling conversations about the group's plans.

In one, Shnewer talks about killing at least 100 soldiers by using six or seven men to launch rocket-propelled grenades “on a night when the squad is out doing exercises without weapons.” Fort Dix is a training center for reservists.

According to court documents, Shnewer told the witness, “My intent is to hit a heavy concentration of soldiers. You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place up and retreat completely without any losses.”

According to prosecutors, the group also scouted Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and the U.S. Coast Guard in Philadelphia, all in August 2006. They also discussed a missed opportunity to attack the U.S. military during the Army-Navy football game and a future attack on American warships planning to dock in Philadelphia.

According to court documents, the group settled on Fort Dix because Tatar delivered pizzas to the military base for his family's business, Super Mario's Pizza in Cookstown. He was able to prepare a detailed map of the grounds “using his own knowledge of the base,” Christie said.

Court documents released Tuesday detailed several blunders by the group. According to the complaint, Eljvir Duka encountered an undercover FBI agent at a local convenience store and, recognizing him from the firing range, asked him if he knew where to purchase AK-47 or M-16 firearms.

Still, Christie said the group was not to be taken lightly.

“They were capable and they were very dangerous,” he said. “These people were ready for martyrdom.”

According to court documents, the group trained in the Poconos and in the wooded areas of Cherry Hill — often by playing paintball. They also watched training videos, including one depicting the last will and testaments of two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and one with a recruitment message from Osama bin Laden, documents say.

The group also watched videos of attacks on the U.S. military, and burst into laughter upon watching a U.S. Marine get his arm blown off, according to court documents.

The defendants appeared one by one before U.S. Magistrate Judge Joel Schneider at U.S. District Court in Camden on Tuesday afternoon. They wore dark green prison jumpsuits and orange shoes and shackles at their feet. Of the six, five wore short hair and long beards.

A dozen friends and family members sat in the front two rows of the courtroom. One young women wept at the start of the hourlong hearing.

Prosecutor William Fitzpatrick turned toward each defendant, arms crossed, and looked them each in the eye when reading off the charges.

At least one member of the group saw Tuesday's court proceeding coming. According to court documents, Tatar became suspicious of the government witness and asked him he was an FBI agent, but then quickly said it didn't matter. The documents quote him saying: “Whether you are or not, I'm gonna do it. Know why? It doesn't matter to me, whether I get locked up, arrested, or get taken away, it doesn't matter. If I die, doesn't matter, I'm doing it in the name of Allah.”

Afterward, Philadelphia FBI Special Agent in Charge J.P. Weis called the clerk who contacted law enforcement an unsung hero.

“His or her actions are the embodiment of the cooperation we need from the public to keep this nation safe,” Weis said. “We need to reach the point where everyone is willing to come forward and say to law enforcement, ‘I have seen or heard something that you need to know.'”

Though the video depicts 10 men, Christie said authorities are confident they have all the men involved in the Fort Dix plot in custody. Asked if the group would be on law enforcement's radar screen without the clerk's tip, Christie answered flatly, “No.”

Contributing to The Press' coverage were: Staff writers Richard Degener, Elaine Rose, John Martins, Daniel Walsh, Heather Pharo and W.H. Keough.