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Home Front: WoT

JFK Jihadi plotted death for witnesses

2012-08-16

The convicted criminal mastermind of a jihadist terror plot to blow up fuel pipelines at JFK Airport schemed from behind bars to murder key witnesses against him, newly unsealed documents reveal. Russell Defreitas, 68, a retired airport baggage handler who last year was sentenced to life in prison for the foiled kaboom plot, enlisted the aid of several fellow prisoners to eliminate witnesses before the beginning of his 2010 terrorism trial in Brooklyn federal court, officials said. Defreitas also wanted to kill one of his own attorneys, Mildred Whalen, whom he believed to be Jewish, officials said. Additionally, Defreitas hoped to target an unnamed federal prosecutor for liquidation, officials said. "Defreitas said that [co-defendant Abdel] Nur insisted that the prosecutor 'had to go,'" an informant related, according to the government's March 2010 letter. Defreitas, an immigrant from Guyana, was convicted of the JFK terror attack scheme along with fellow plotters Nur, Abdel Kadir, an engineer and former member of Guyana's parliament, and Kareem Ibrahim.

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Home Front: WoT

Two found guilty of JFK bomb plot

2010-08-03

Russell Defreitas, 67, a US citizen born in Guyana, and Abdul Kadir, 58, of Guyana conspired to blow up buildings, fuel tanks and pipelines at the airport in the New York City borough of Queens. The men, who were arrested in June 2007, face up to life in prison. Defreitas, who had worked at the airport, provided knowledge of its facilities and layout, US prosecutors said, while Kadir, an engineer, helped with technical aspects such as how to blow up the buried fuel pipelines. Officials have said the plot was nowhere near being operational when the men were arrested. Two other men were arrested in the plot. Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad and Tobago was deemed too ill to be tried but may face trial later. Guyanese Abdel Nur, 60, pleaded guilty in June to a separate charge of material support to terrorism and faces up to 15 years in prison. Interesting: four jamokes, none named 'Fred' or 'Steve' or 'Joe' ...

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Caribbean-Latin America

Trinidad OKs extradition of JFK suspects

2008-06-25

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — A judge has upheld the extradition of three men charged with plotting to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. An FBI plane was waiting on the tarmac. They're in FBI custody now. Appeals Court Judge Roger Hamel Smith on Monday rejected a defense argument that the three suspects, who claim they cannot get a fair trial in the U.S. because of publicity, could not legally be extradited under Trinidad law. The three men face conspiracy charges. A fourth suspect, who worked as a cargo handler at the airport until 1995, is in custody in New York. The suspects have denied allegations of participating in a terror cell that planned to blow up a jet fuel artery feeding the airport. Their lawyers argue that a government informant entrapped the men into plotting the attack, but that there never was any real threat. "No, no, certainly not!" A U.S. indictment charges the suspects with conspiring to 'cause death, serious bodily injury and extensive destruction.' Trinidadian suspect Kareem Ibrahim, a Muslim cleric, has been hospitalized since April after apparently suffering a mental breakdown. His lawyer said Ibrahim is in no shape to be extradited, and he plans to file another appeal. We have psychiatrists and psychiatric hospitals in the U.S. Ship him. Lawyers for the other two suspects, Abdel Nur and Abdul Kadir, both from Guyana, were not available for comment.

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Home Front: WoT

JFK Plot Imam Wanted Help From Iran

2007-07-10

A Shiite imam accused of plotting to blow up fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport wanted to seek Iranian backing for the terrorist plot. The disclosure came yesterday in a court decision denying bail to the Trinidadian-based cleric, Kareem Ibrahim. Mr. Ibrahim, 62, is one of four men arrested last month on charges connected to the plot. At the time, American law enforcement officials said Mr. Ibrahim encouraged his co-conspirators to seek funding for the attack from outside their home countries of Trinidad or Guyana. While American authorities have not provided more details, a judge in Trinidad wrote that evidence, including tape recordings, suggests Mr. Ibrahim intended to seek backing for the plot from individuals in Iran or Britain. In those recordings, Judge Prakash Moosai wrote, Mr. Ibrahim "refers to an ‘Iranian brother' passing through Trinidad and Tobago, and of sending a ‘trusted brother' to Iran to speak to the top men of the revolutionary movement there about the plan." The judge's decision does not clarify whether "the revolutionary movement there" refers to the government of the Islamic Republic. Nor does Judge Moosai state whether the plotters actually disclosed the plan to contacts in Iran or simply considered doing so. Mr. Ibrahim also spoke of contacting "brothers in England," the decision said. Mr. Ibrahim's alleged efforts to find foreign backing mark the second Iran connection to surface in a case that initially appeared confined to the Western Hemisphere. At the time of his arrest, another of the defendants, Abdul Kadir of Guyana, was preparing to travel to Iran to attend an Islamic conference, according to news reports. Two of Mr. Kadir's children were studying in Iran at the time of his arrest, according to reports. The extent of Mr. Ibrahim's own international contacts is unclear. He has not left Trinidad since 1979, according to the court decision. But one lead under investigation by Trinidadian law enforcement is whether Mr. Ibrahim had ties to Shiite organizations in southern Iraq and Iran through an Islamic discussion group he hosted, the Trinidad Express reported last month.

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Four indicted in plot to blow up New York airport

2007-06-30

Four men were indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn on Friday for an alleged plot to blow up New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. Russell Defreitas, Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur will face a total of six charges, including conspiracy to attack a mass transportation facility, conspiracy to destroy a public building by explosion and conspiracy to destroy international airport facilities. Prosecutors said the accused were Islamic extremists who sought to blow up the airport's fuel tanks and part of the 40-mile (64-km) pipeline feeding them from New Jersey. They planned to "discharge and detonate an explosive and other lethal device" to cause "death, serious bodily injury" and "major economic loss," the indictment said. When the plot was disclosed early this month, law enforcement officials initially described it as "chilling." But authorities have acknowledged the plot was more "aspirational" than operational and posed no immediate threat. Which means we should have waited, of course, nothing to see, nothing to worry about, move along -- say, are those new pics of Paris Hilton? Defreitas, 63, a U.S. citizen and native of Guyana who was arrested in New York, will enter his plea at an arraignment scheduled for July 11. Officials said he was a former airport cargo handler who headed the plot and conducted surveillance for the group. U.S. officials are seeking the extradition of Trinidadian Ibrahim and Guyanese citizens Kadir and Nur who are scheduled to appear at a bail hearing on Monday in Trinidad after they were previously denied bail there. The men sought the help of Jamaat Al Muslimeen, an Islamist extremist group in Trinidad that was behind a 1990 coup attempt on the island, authorities said early this month. Since then a spokesman for the group in Port of Spain has denied any involvement with the men and said Ibrahim left the group 20 years ago. The men face a maximum of life in prison if convicted on the most serious charge of planning to attack a public transportation system.

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Home Front: WoT

Police, FBI Plan To Examine Iran Links in JFK Plot

2007-06-05

As New York police and the FBI interview suspects in an alleged plot to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport, one thread the ongoing investigation will explore is why one of the suspects was planning to go to Iran. A former Guyanese legislator, Abdul Kadir, was arrested in Trinidad on Friday on a plane bound for Caracas, Venezuela. According to Mr. Kadir's wife, Isha Kadir, he was in the island nation to pick up an Iranian visa so he could attend an Islamic conference in Tehran. Two of Mr. Kadir's children are studying in Iran, according to Mrs. Kadir. Trinidad's counterterrorism police are also investigating whether one of Mr. Kadir's alleged co-conspirators, a 56-year old Shiite imam in Trinidad named Kareem Ibrahim, had ties to Shiite organizations in southern Iraq and Iran through an Islamic discussion group he hosted, according to the Trinidad Express. In interviews in the Guyanese press, Mrs. Kadir said her husband's Iran connection was likely the reason the FBI was requesting his extradition. "We are shocked, we are not part of these things," she was quoted by Kaieteur News in Guyana. "To begin with, we are not Al Qaeda ... we are Shia. My husband is a decent, devoted, intelligent Muslim. Both of us have relatives in the United States. It would be nonsensical for him to plot something like this." An FBI spokesman in New York would not comment on the fact that Mr. Kadir was on his way to Iran when he was arrested, noting only that the investigation into the plot against New York's largest airport was ongoing. However, a law enforcement official who requested anonymity said the Iran connection was a lead the investigators would be following. If Iran's hand is found behind the JFK airport plot, it would raise an alarm about the Islamic Republic's recent alliances with America's hemispheric enemies. Since the 2005 ascendance of President Ahmadinejad in Iran, the Iranian regime has strengthened ties with such leaders as President Castro of Cuba, President Chavez of Venezuela, and even President Reagan's one-time foe, President Ortega of Nicaragua. Mr. Chavez, for example, has signed a series of cooperation agreements with Iran and allowed Iranian television producers to consult on Venezuela's plan to offer a Spanish-language satellite television station. The Venezuelans have also allowed the Lebanese group Hezbollah, which receives funds and guidance from Tehran, to operate openly in their country. A former FBI officer who until 2003 was in charge of the counterterrorism unit that monitored Iran and Hezbollah, Kenneth Piernick, said yesterday that he would not be surprised if the plotters had a connection to the Iranian regime. "The fact of the matter is that the Iranians are a bunch of sneaky bastards. They are going to take care of anyone who hurts us. I am not at all surprised that they might have been trying to provide him cover to get out of the region," he said in a telephone interview. While the New York police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, stressed Saturday that as far as he knew, the plot was not connected to Al Qaeda, the indictment says the plotters sought assistance from the Guyanese Islamist group known as Jaamat al Muslimeen, or the Muslim Group. In 1990, 100 members of Jaamat al Muslimeen attempted a coup in Guyana that resulted in widespread riots. The leader of the group is expected to face trial this month in Guyana's capital, Georgetown. According to an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C., Chris Zambelis, Jaamat al Muslimeen has never focused on international operations and was restricted primarily to organized crime. The organization also preaches a strict Sunni doctrine, wile Mr. Kadir is a Shiite, a branch of Islam that fundamentalist Sunnis regard as heretic. Mr. Piernick said it was not wise to make too much of the differences between the Muslim branches when it came to Iran's role in supporting anti-American terror. "Shia Hezbollah has trained Sunnis in military operations without concern for their sect in Islam. What is of concern is that they are able to engage in terrorist acts," he said. " Al Qaeda has found sanctuary in Iran. Is this guy in a payroll? I don't know. Are they willing to help him out, a fellow Muslim against the ‘Great Satan'? Yes, I think they would."

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Caribbean-Latin America

Trinidad Holds 2 in Alleged Terror Plot

2007-06-02

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) - Two men allegedly involved in a plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport were in custody in Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday and the police commissioner said authorities were scouring the Caribbean country for a third suspect still at large. Trevor Paul, the top police official in the twin-island nation off Venezuela's coast, identified the arrested suspects as Abdul Kadir, 55, a Guyanese Muslim and former member of the South American nation's Parliament, and Kareem Ibrahim, a 56-year-old from Trinidad. Both were arrested on U.S. warrants and are suspected of involvement in a plan to blow up a fuel line feeding the airport, Paul told a news conference. Abdel Nur of Guyana was still being sought in Trinidad, U.S. officials said. "The FBI did inform the Trinidad law enforcement authorities of the fact that three men were wanted in the U.S. on warrants in connection with a terrorist plot. We have been working with the FBI for some time, but this last request was made yesterday," Paul said. Paul said the two suspects would likely be extradited to the U.S. after court hearings in Trinidad. He did not say when their first court appearance in Port-of-Spain would be. U.S authorities said Kadir and Nur were longtime associates of a Trinidadian radical Muslim group, Jamaat al Muslimeen, which launched an unsuccessful rebellion in 1990 that left 24 dead. More rage from the Religion of Pieces™. "We understand that Kadir is linked to a major organization in Trinidad," Guyanese President Bharrat Jagdeo, who is in Port-of-Spain at a regional agriculture conference, told reporters. He would not disclose further details. Kadir's wife, Isha Kadir, told The Associated Press that her husband, a Shiite Muslim, is innocent. She said her husband flew from Guyana to Trinidad on Thursday on his way to Venezuela, where he planned to pick up a travel visa to attend an Islamic religious conference in Iran. Kadir was arrested at Trinidad's international airport on Friday after he had boarded a flight to Venezuela, Paul said. "We have no interest in blowing up anything in the U.S," Kadir's wife said. "We have relatives in the U.S." "We don't what our relatives blown up. The rest of you are on your own," she added.

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Home Front: WoT

Authorities charge 4, arrest 3 in NYC terror plot

2007-06-03

Continues yesterday's story... Three people were arrested and another was being sought Saturday for allegedly plotting to blow up a fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods, authorities said. Anybody keeping count as to how long it is until the leftists start hollering "I question the timing!" Too late: already started. The plot never got past the planning stages. It posed no threat to air safety or the public, the FBI said Saturday. The mouthpieces will try to use that as part of their arguments trying to get the turbans off, of course... At a news conference, US Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf called it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable." "The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," she said. Authorities arrested Russell Defreitas, a US citizen native to Guyana and former JFK employee. He was in custody in Brooklyn and was expected to be arraigned Saturday afternoon. Two other men, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, are in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was still being sought. I'm really getting tired of bloodthirsty turbans tromping around in my country, whether they're "citizens" or not. All four have been charged with conspiring to attack the airport, one of the nation's busiest, by blowing up major fuel supply tanks and the pipeline, according to the indictment. The pipeline takes fuel from a facility in Linden, New Jersey, to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. Kadir, a Muslim and former member of Parliament in Guyana, was arrested in Trinidad for attempting to secure money for "terrorist operations," according to a Guyanese police commander who spoke on condition of anonymity. Kadir left his position in Parliament last year. Muslims make up about 9 percent of the former Dutch and British colony's 770,000 population, mostly from the Sunni sect. I'll bet the Guyanese are just overjoyed by that fact. An official said the plotters had conducted surveillance on giant jet fuel tanks at JFK and the pipeline. They had taken surveillance video of the targets and took it to Trinidad to review the tape, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the arrests were not yet announced. The official said investigators first found out about the plot in January 2006. After that, an informant infiltrated the group. "This was the ultimate hand-and-glove operation between NYPD and FBI," said US Rep. Peter King, a Republican from Long Island. The arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged homegrown terrorism plots targeting high-profile American landmarks. A year ago, seven men were arrested in what officials called the early stages of a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and destroy FBI offices and other buildings. A month later, authorities broke up a plot to bomb underwater New York City train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan. And six people were arrested a month ago in an alleged plot to unleash a bloody rampage on Fort Dix in New Jersey.

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