Pat Dollard | Young Americans

CAMDEN, N.J. - A man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to provide weapons to a group of men accused of plotting an attack on soldiers at Fort Dix.

Agron Abdullahu, 25, faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced Feb. 6.

Federal prosecutors have portrayed the New Jersey resident as having the smallest role among the six men arrested in May in the case. The others are charged with conspiring to kill military personnel — a crime punishable by life in prison.

Abdullahu, a former supermarket baker, admitted letting illegal immigrants use his legally owned Beret 9 mm pistol and a Yugoslav-made semiautomatic rifle. Abdullahu told a judge that he knew it was illegal for the others to possess weapons but did not know it was against the law for them to use guns at a firing range.

The alleged plot to kill U.S. troops was not mentioned during Wednesday’s hearing. His public defender, Richard Coughlin, said afterward that Abdullahu made no deal to cooperate with prosecutors against the other defendants.

Abdullahu will not testify against them because he has no information about and was not involved in any terror plot, Coughlin said.

“My client was essentially used by these other individuals,” Coughlin said. “It was never a ‘Fort Dix Six.’ It was a ‘Fort Dix Five’ plus one other person. That was my client.”

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on Abdullahu’s plea Wednesday.

Abdullahu was indicted on charges of providing weapons to illegal immigrants, a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit that crime, which carries a maximum sentence of five years.

Authorities have said that while Abdullahu provided the weapons to the other men in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains during trips in January 2006 and February 2007, he resisted the idea of participating in an attack.

The government has said that he told the others at one point that it would be against Islam to kill civilians and that it would be “crazy” to attack the military installation.

Coughlin said he had not heard that part of the tape, which was made by a government informant, and that his client may not have thought the others were serious about launching an attack.

The lawyer said Abdullahu will likely receive a sentence between two and three years. After that, he could face deportation, but it is not clear where he would go.

AP story by Geoff Mulvihill here.