April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Three brothers were sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to kill soldiers at the Fort Dix Army base in New Jersey or other military targets in a plot that authorities said was homegrown terrorism.

Dritan “Tony” Duka, 30, was sentenced with his brothers Shain, 28, and Elvjir, 25, for their convictions on conspiracy and weapons charges by an anonymous jury in December. The Dukas were illegal immigrants from Macedonia who settled in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in the 1980s and ran a family roofing business.

“Nothing has a greater impact on society than a crime of terrorism,” U.S. District Judge Robert Kugler said today in sentencing Dritan Duka in federal court in Camden, New Jersey. “He clearly intended to and planned on killing American soldiers solely because of their status as American soldiers.”

The sentences follow a 15-month FBI investigation and eight-week trial. Prosecutors said the men grew up in the U.S., adopted extremist religious views, and were inspired by online jihadist videos to plan an attack on America. Each of the brothers protested the verdicts, accusing prosecutors and the judge of ignoring evidence or inflating the charges.

“I am innocent, I am innocent, I am innocent,” Shain Duka told the judge today in a packed courtroom with extra security.

Dritan and Shain Duka got an additional 30 years each for buying machine guns from an FBI informant. Two co-defendants will be sentenced tomorrow. Each of the five were acquitted of attempted murder. All three Dukas were ordered to repay $125,000 to the U.S. for the cost of additional security at Fort Dix.

Automatic Rifles

Dritan Duka, an ethnic Albanian, was arrested in May 2007 as he and Shain Duka tried to buy automatic rifles from an undercover FBI informant in Cherry Hill, a Philadelphia suburb. Dritan Duka insisted he was wrongly convicted and the evidence showed he “had absolutely no clue” of any terrorism plot.

“I am completely innocent,” he said in a 15-minute address today to the judge. “This case was no more than a conspiracy against us, which was created, produced and directed by agents of the United States government.”

His attorney, Michael Huff, portrayed Duka as a hard- working, dedicated father of five. He said Duka had taken steps to become a legal immigrant so he could stay in the U.S.

“This is not a jihadist warrior who is going to continue on a path of destruction and violence,” he told the judge.

Deputy U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Duka was motivated by a desire to be a mujahedeen.

“He entered into this conspiracy as a soldier of Allah,” the prosecutor said.

‘Attending Funerals’

“I am sure that had the FBI and its partners not caught these men, instead of presiding over this case today, we would be attending funerals at Fort Dix,” Ralph Marra, the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, said in a news conference.

Elvjir Duka told the judge the case was a farce, that the informants inflamed the conversations and agents stitched together unrelated discussions to suggest the men were intent on a deadly attack.

“Where’s the conspiracy?” Elvjir Duka said. “I’m sitting here facing life in prison knowing I’m innocent.”

Turning to his parents in the courtroom, he said: “Be patient for the sake of Allah. Be patient. Because being in prison and knowing you are innocent is a great feeling.”

The judge said Elvjir Duka was motivated by his hatred of the U.S. system, citing a letter the defendant sent him saying: “I hate and reject the entire system of justice. The entire system will be defeated by Islam and there is no stopping it.”

‘Desire to Kill’

Kugler said he is “a danger to the community, as long as he harbors that hatred and desire to kill.”

The final two defendants, Mohamad Shnewer, who turned 24 today, and Serdar Tatar, 25, will be sentenced tomorrow.

Shnewer, a Jordanian and naturalized U.S. citizen, drove a cab and worked at his family’s market. Tatar, a permanent legal resident from Turkey, was an assistant manager at a 7-Eleven store in Philadelphia.

The men became friends at a high school in Cherry Hill and frequented a mosque in Palmyra.

Prosecutors conceded the men hadn’t settled on a target or a timetable for a strike. They said the men were “radical Islamists” who agreed to launch a jihad against U.S. troops.

Jurors heard hundreds of secret recordings in which the defendants appeared to support al-Qaeda and celebrate U.S. losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, discussed ways to kill soldiers, and trained with weapons and other exercises.

One video, recorded by a camera hidden in an FBI informant’s car, showed Shnewer and the cooperator scouting Fort Dix and other potential targets in August 2006.

‘Light the Whole Place’

“This is exactly what we are looking for,” Shnewer told the informant, Mahmoud Omar, as they passed the installation in central New Jersey, a staging point for troops headed to Iraq. “You hit four, five or six Humvees and light the whole place and retreat completely without any losses.”

In another conversation recorded in March 2007, Dritan Duka told an informant that even with a small group, they could “inflict a lot of damage” with the right weapons.

“I’m going to start something,” he said.

None of the men testified at trial. Their attorneys denied wrongdoing and contended the informants steered the talk and incited the plots so they could earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, legal immigration status, and the encouragement of FBI agents eager to claim victories against terrorism.

The case is USA v. Dritan Duka, 07-cr-459, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Camden).

To contact the reporters on this story: John P. Martin in Camden, New Jersey, at johnpetermartin@gmail.com; David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: April 28, 2009 16:53 EDT