Providing firearms to illegals nets man 20-month sentence
Agron Abdullahu was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison on March 31 for conspiring to provide firearms and ammunition to illegal aliens who allegedly plotted to kill U.S. soldiers at various installations, including the Fort DixArmy base in Burlington County, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

According to a press release, U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler also ordered Abdullahu, 25, of Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County, to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term. Kugler continued the defendant's detention and remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshal to begin serving his prison sentence.

Abdullahu, who is a U.S. legal permanent resident, has been held in federal custody since his arrest on May 7, 2007, along with five others - three of them brothers - who were charged in an alleged plot to kill as many soldiers as possible. At that time, Abdullahu was charged with aiding and abetting the illegal possession of firearms by illegal aliens.

Abdullahu was never accused of joining the plot to kill U.S. military personnel, as Kugler also noted at sentencing, according to the press release.

On Oct. 31, 2007, Abdullahu pleaded guilty to a one-count Superseding Information, which charged him with conspiracy to possess firearms and ammunition by illegal aliens.

At his plea hearing, Abdullahu admitted that from Jan. 3, 2006, toMay 7, 2007, he and Serdar Tatar, 25, of Philadelphia, provided firearms to brothers Eljvir Duka, 24, Dritan Duka, 29, and Shain Duka, 27, who Abdullahu knew were illegal aliens. All of the Duka brothers are from Cherry Hill.

The trial for the Duka brothers, Tatar and Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer, 22, of Cherry Hill, on the five-count superseding indictment, is scheduled before Kugler on Sept. 29.

In determining the actual sentence for Abdullahu, Kugler consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence. In this case, Kugler determined the appropriate sentence to be 20 months, four months above the top of the advisory guideline range, according to the press release.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.