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Home Front: WoT
Dylan Boyd pleads guilty in NC terror trial
2011-09-18
Dylan Boyd was on his way to a shooting range two years ago when federal authorities arrested him - accusing him and seven others with being part of a terror group conspiring to wage jihad overseas.

On Wednesday, four days before the trial of three of the suspects is scheduled to begin, Boyd, 24, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

He faces up to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised probation. Sentencing is set for December in a case that also brought pleas in February from Dylan Boyd's brother, Zakariya, and their father, Daniel Patrick Boyd, 41, the accused ringleader of the group.

Daniel Boyd pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism between November 2006 and July 2009 and conspiracy to "murder, kidnap, maim and injure people in a foreign country." Zakariya pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists. Neither will be sentenced until after the trial, which is projected to take nearly two months.

Daniel Boyd, described by his neighbors as a friendly drywall contractor and devout Muslim, is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution.

The plea this week provided a look at evidence that prosecutors plan to present next week in a trial that could offer insight into the use of FBI informants to build terrorism cases.

Prosecutor John Bowler said that federal investigators had gathered 800 hours of recordings, 750 hours of which might be used in trial. The government also collected email and other documents.

Dylan Boyd, according to prosecutors, can be heard on at least 40 of the government recordings. Prosecutors allege that Dylan Boyd, who was living at home with his father much of the time, can be heard instructing some of the accused on how to travel through Turkey and across the Black Sea to Chechnya to try to join the jihadi brigade.

Bowler alleged that Dylan Boyd also helped raise funds for a compound the group planned to build in Kosovo where food could be grown and weapons could be kept.

Prosecutors also said Dylan Boyd was with his father and brother when they met FBI agents in a bookstore. Though Dylan Boyd did not go inside the store he was armed, Bowler said.

While providing the judge facts to support his case against Dylan Boyd, Bowler described the house that the Boyd's lived in as one with an arsenal of weapons - guns in every room and gas masks in some.

Prosecutors accused the elder Boyd of recruiting his co-defendants to help him plan "violent jihad" attacks on government facilities and kill members of the U.S. military.

The indictment accused the defendants of training in military-style tactics and traveling to the Middle East and Kosovo hoping to kill, kidnap and maim in the name of jihad.

During a 2009 detention hearing, feds played audio tapes of Boyd talking in his home about protecting Muslims at all costs. The tape included long conversations about the struggle of Muslims, his disgust with the U.S. military, and martyrdom.

Defense attorneys for the three scheduled for trial next week oppose having the tapes admitted as evidence. The issue has not been decided.
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Home Front: WoT
NC town braces for terror trial
2010-08-03
The federal trial of seven alleged terrorists could be held in U.S. District Court on Middle Street in New Bern next year. A tentative trial date had been set for next month in New Bern, but the case was continued because thousands of pages of Arabic documents had to be translated, according to district court officials.

A U.S. District Court spokeswoman, Robin Zier, told the Sun Journal that the trial could be held sometime next year, but no court has been designated. “It could be held in U.S. District Court in New Bern or Raleigh. Chief U.S. District Court Judge Louise Flannigan is assigned the case,” she said.

Facing charges are:
Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, the suspected ringleader of the group.
Hysen Sherifi, 24, a Kosovan immigrant who legally relocated to the Raleigh area.
Anes Subasic, 33.
Zakariya Boyd, 20.
Dylan Boyd, 22.
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22.
Ziyad Yaghi, 21.
All are U.S. citizens except for Sherifi. They all face life sentences if theyre convicted of the charges of conspiracy to take part in a terrorist plot. The men were indicted July 2009 and for conspiring to murder, kidnap, maim and injure persons abroad.

Daniel Patrick Boyd of Johnston County went under the alias of Saifullah. The indictment said Boyd trained in Afghanistan from 1989-1992 and fought in the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which ended in 1989.

According to David Kris, an assistant attorney with the U.S. Justice Department,“Daniel Patrick Boyd is a veteran of terrorist training camps in Pakistan, who over the past three years, has conspired with others in this country to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill. Boyd received military-style training for the purpose of engaging in terrorist training for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad.” The indictment also says that Boyd and several of the accused traveled to Israel in June 1997 to engage in “violent jihad” but subsequently returned to the U.S. after failing in their efforts.

Across the street from the federal courthouse in New Bern is Centenary Methodist Church, which also has a day care facility. The senior pastor of the church, the Rev. Susan Pate Greenwood, said no notices had been sent to parents of day care students because no notification of a trial date has been made. “There had been rumors, but no official notification from federal officials had been made with church officials,” Greenwood said. Greenwood said if the trial is held in New Bern next year, notifications would be sent out to parents. “We have no hard evidence of such a trial, but will be in contact with federal officials,” she said.
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Terror Networks
Kosovo man charged with supporting N.C. terror suspects
2010-06-18
A man arrested in Kosovo is linked to the eight Triangle-area men suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bajram Asllani, 29, an ethnic Albanian and native of Mitrovico, Kosovo, was convicted of terrorism in Serbia but had been living out in his home country when he was arrested Thursday following an extradition request from the United States, police said. He faces charges of providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to kill, kidnap, maim or injure persons.

An April 19 criminal complaint unsealed Thursday alleges that Asllani conspired with eight men charged last July with plotting a series of terrorist attacks overseas and securing weapons and training in North Carolina.

Seven suspects – Daniel Patrick Boyd, 39, his sons, Dylan Boyd, 22, and Zakariya "Zak" Boyd, 20, and Hysen Sherifi, 24, Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22, Ziyad Yaghi, 21, and Anes Subasic, 33 – are being held in the U.S. An eighth suspect, Jude Kenan Mohammad, 20, is believed to be in Pakistan.

The criminal complaint alleges that Asllani was in contact with the other suspects, solicited money for them and helped them travel with the purpose of establishing "a base of operations in Kosovo for the purpose of waging violent jihad."

Sherifi became acquainted with Asllani during a July 2008 trip to Pristinia, Kosovo, court documents say. The documents say that Asllani directed Sherifi to return to the U.S. and collect money to establish a community in Kosovo, which would be used to store weapons and ammunition and as a base to launch attacks in Kosovo and other countries.

Sherifi returned to the U.S. in April 2009 and collected $15,000 but was arrested before he could return to Kosovo, documents say. Sherifi is also accused of giving Asllani money for travel documents.

The court documents say that Daniel Boyd said he wanted to go, along with his sons, to Kosovo. The sons and Sherifi allegedly talked with Asllani online.

U.S. authorities said that Asllani was placed under house arrest by Kosovo law enforcement in 2007. In September 2009, a Serbian court convicted him in abstentia on terror-related charges and sentenced him to eight years in prison.

Kosovo police said the arrest and a search of Asllani's home were authorized by a judge with the European Union's Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo, known as EULEX. Police spokesman Baki Kelani said they only had executed the arrest warrant, and everything else was handled at the diplomatic level between both countries and EULEX.
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Home Front: WoT
Suspects in Quantico terror plot appear in court
2010-04-17
The seven Triangle area men charged with plotting terrorism attacks were back at the federal courthouse in Raleigh Friday morning.

Daniel Boyd, his sons, Dylan and Zakariya, and four other suspects - Anes Subasic, Hysen Sherifi, Mohammad Hassan and Ziyad Yaghi -- are all charged with plotting to attack the Marine base at Quantico and wage Islamic jihad abroad. Authorities say their operation was being run from a home in Johnston County.

Friday's hearing was about the massive amount of evidence lawyers need to go through before the case can go to trial. "We estimate that 29,000 pages of paper, 750 hours of audio and videotape and 24 computers," defense attorney Dan Boyce said. "So it's a daunting task, to say the least."

The FBI has said that it seized some two dozen weapons from the Boyd household and that a pit had been dug under their back deck to be used to store the guns. They also seized more than 27,000 rounds of ammunition, along with $14,000 in cash.

In an interview with agents, Dylan Boyd claimed that the U.S. Army was overseas raping and killing "their" Muslim sisters and repeatedly called the FBI agents questioning him "kuffar" -meaning nonbelievers. He also said the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an "inside job."

The seven men are scheduled to go on trial in Raleigh in September.
Link


Home Front: WoT
7 in North Carolina charged with supporting terrorism
2009-07-28
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Federal authorities have charged seven men in North Carolina with supporting terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder abroad, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Officials said one of the men, identified as North Carolina resident and U.S. native Daniel Patrick Boyd, had traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where he trained in terrorist camps to carry out "violent jihad."

Boyd, 39, who went by the name Saifullah, was charged along with two of his sons: Dylan Boyd, 22, also known as Mohammed, and Zakariya Boyd, 20.

The four others also are residents of North Carolina, and all seven are accused of engaging in weapons training and military tactics in their home state, the Justice Department said. "We consider this significant. We've been watching them for some time, and we think they were dangerous," said a federal law enforcement official who asked not to be identified.

The Boyd family and defendant Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan are identified as U.S.-born citizens. Defendant Hysen Sherifi is identified as a native of Kosovo who is a legal permanent resident of the United States, and Hiyad Yaghi and Anes Subasic are said to be naturalized U.S. citizens. Officials did not immediately identify their native countries.
So...I wonder which one's the informant?
Eenie .. meenie .. meinie .. ... ... Mo?
The indictment, made public by the Justice Department, says Daniel Boyd and others left the United States for Israel in June 2007 to "engage in violent jihad but ultimately returned to the United States after failing in their efforts."
Find out the Joooos play for keeps, did ya?
The defendants, with a substantial cache of weapons, had "practiced military tactics and use of weapons on private property in Caswell County, North Carolina, in June and July 2009," the indictment says. The documents make no reference to a direct threat to individuals or property in the United States.

In a written statement, the Justice Department's top counterterrorism official, David Kris, said that Daniel Boyd, "a veteran of terrorist training camps" had conspired with others to recruit and help young men travel overseas in order to kill."

The U.S. attorney in Raleigh, George E. B. Holding, said, "These charges hammer home the point that terrorists and their supporters are not confined to the remote regions of some far-away land, but can grow and fester right here at home."

The defendants made an initial appearance in federal court in North Carolina. Officials said they are expected to return to court Thursday for detention hearings.
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