A North Carolina man discussed his plan to attack the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico, Va. with an FBI informant, audio tapes played in court Wednesday revealed.
FBI informant Abdullah Eddarkoui told a New Bern, N.C. jury that Daniel Patrick Boyd spoke every day about "jihad and fighting."
"I did some preliminary reconnaissance [at Quantico], and what I saw was amazing," Boyd said in one recording. "I saw the residences of all their commanding officers."
Boyd, the ringleader of a North Carolina-based terrorist cell, pleaded guilty Feb. 9 to conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim individuals in a foreign country and to a charge of material support to terrorists.
Boyd, along with six others, was arrested in 2009 and charged with conspiring to wage jihad abroad. A superseding indictment charged Boyd, his son Zakariya and Hysen Sherifi with plotting to kill U.S. military personnel at Quantico.
Prosecutors introduced the tapes of Boyd's conversations because they speak to the remaining defendants' intentions. In one recording, Boyd said that Sherifi was in on the plan to attack Quantico.
FBI agent Paul Minella also testified Wednesday, linking Sherifi and the two other defendants, Ziyad Yaghi and Omar Hassan, to Boyd. Minella said that Sherifi performed weapons training with Boyd and his two sons. Hassan and Yaghi planned to meet up with Boyd in Israel in 2007.
Defense attorneys say that while their clients made anti-American statements, they were not involved in any plot to wage jihad abroad.
Boyd's sons and co-defendants Zakariya and Dylan pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
Three other defendants indicted in the case are not at trial. Anes Subasic, who is representing himself, will be tried separately. Jude Kenan Mohammad is at large and believed to be in Pakistan. Defendant Bajram Asllani was arrested in Kosovo last year, but a European Union judge rejected an extradition request, ruling that the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Kosovo.
Daniel Boyd has agreed to testify against Sherifi, Yaghi and Hassan at trial. The trial, which began Monday, is expected to last several weeks.