US authorities foil plot to blow up New York's JFK airport
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunday June 3, 8:41 AM
*US authorities foil plot to blow up New York's JFK airport*
US authorities said Saturday they foiled an Islamic terrorist plot to
bomb fuel supplies and pipelines at John F. Kennedy airport, averting a
potentially catastrophic attack and "unthinkable" carnage at and around
the massive airfield.
Four suspected Islamic extremists -- including Abdul Kadir, a former
member of Guyana's parliament -- have been charged over the alleged
plot, which officials said had links to international terrorist cells in
the Caribbean and South America but was foiled well before it could be
carried out.
"Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable
damage, deaths, and destruction," US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said,
telling reporters in New York the plan was "one of the most chilling
plots imaginable," barely three weeks after the arrest of six suspected
Islamic radicals on charges of plotting to attack a US military base in
New Jersey.
"The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just
unthinkable," she stressed.
The plot allegedly tapped into Jamaat Al Muslimeen, described by justice
officials as an international network of Muslim extremists from the
United States, Guyana, and Trinidad.
Anti-terrorist forces arrested one of the defendants, Russell Defreitas,
a former employee at JFK, in New York on Friday.
In Port-of-Spain, Commissioner of Police Trevor Paul said that Guyanese
ex-legislator Kadir and Trinidadian Kareem Ibrahim were arrested in
Trinidad on Friday and Saturday respectively.
Kadir is a former mayor and lawmaker in his country with the Peoples
National Congress Reform-One Guyana (PNCR-1G).
The fourth defendant, Abdel Nur, also a Guyanese citizen, is believed to
be hiding in Trinidad and Tobago, Paul said, though US officials said
they believed he was at large in Guyana.
Defreitas was alleged to have said in a conversation recorded by an US
agent who had infiltrated the group that blowing up the airport would
have been of great symbolic importance and like killing late US
president Kennedy again.
"Any time you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United
States," he was alleged to have said. "They love John F. Kennedy like
he's the man .... If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning.
"It's like you can kill the man twice."
He was also alleged to have compared the plot to the September 11
attacks on New York's World Trade Center more than five years ago.
"Even the Twin Towers can't touch it," he was alleged to have said.
"This can destroy the economy of America for some time."
According to US authorities, the plot went back to January last year and
would have involved blowing up buildings, fuel tanks and pipelines at
the airport, which handles 1,000 flights and more than 120,000
passengers daily. The pipeline network extends into neighborhoods which
could have been devastated.
Defreitas allegedly used his knowledge of airport operations to identify
targets and escape routes and assess airport security, while also using
satellite photographs of the airport downloaded from the Internet.
Another conversation, in which Kadir, an engineer by training, explained
to his alleged co-conspirators that the fuel tanks would require two
explosions suggested the plotters had some technical expertise.
White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said only that President George W.
Bush had been briefed on the investigation and that the operation was "a
good example of international counter-terrorism co-operation."
In the Fort Dix case, the suspects, including a pizza delivery man who
allegedly used his job to case the Fort Dix army base, were arrested May
7 as they tried to buy automatic rifles. Two undercover FBI informers
had earlier infiltrated the group.
Kenneth Wainstein, assistant attorney general for national security at
the United States Department of Justice, drew a parallel between the two
cases.
"Like the Fort Dix case several weeks ago, this plot highlights the
evolving nature of the terrorist threat we face," he said.
"Our investigation into both plots highlights how our agents and
prosecutors are refining their capability to detect and pre-empt such
plots before they advance to a dangerous stage."
Other alleged plots believed to have been thwarted in New York since the
September 11 attacks included a plan to blow up a subway station and
another plot to bomb commuter train tunnels linking Manhattan to New
Jersey.