4 Charged In New York Airport Terror Plot

3 Suspects In Custody; Allegedly Planned To Attack JFK Airport Fuel Lines

(CBS)  Four Muslim men, including a naturalized U.S. citizen and former politician from the South American nation of Guyana, have been charged with conspiring to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport by bombing jet fuel supply tanks and a major fuel pipeline, government officials said Saturday.

U.S. law enforcement officials said various agencies had been watching the group for the past 18 months.

"The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," said Roslynn Mauskopf, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where the criminal complaint was filed.

The alleged ringleader of the plot, former JFK Airport employee Russell Defreitas, 63, was the only person in U.S. custody. Following his arrest Friday night, Defreitas appeared in Brooklyn federal court Saturday but did not enter a plea. He is scheduled to have a bail hearing next Wednesday.

Two other suspects are in custody in Trinidad. Abdul Kadir, a citizen of Guyana who has served as a member of the Guyanese Parliament and a mayor of the city of Linden, and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad.

Mauskopf said she expected judicial proceedings to bring them to the U.S. to commence next week.

Kadir was arrested at the Trinidad airport Friday en route to Venezuela, according to U.S. and Trinidad law enforcement officials, and planning to connect to a flight to Iran.

A fourth man charged in the plot, Abdel Nur, a Guyanese citizen, was still at large but believed to be in Trinidad.

"The enforcement action that we're announcing today was taken to prevent the terrorist plot from maturing into a terrorist act," said Mark Mershon, FBI Assistant Director in charge of the New York field office. "This is a very determined group that engaged in precise and extensive surveillance."

The surveillance included video allegedly recorded in January of JFK airport by Defretias, as outlined in a 33-page criminal complaint. Conspirators also downloaded maps and images of the airport and surrounding neighborhood from Google Earth, officials said.

The alleged plot was documented and unraveled with the help of a confidential informant, who secretly recorded telephone calls and conversations he had in his car with Defreitos. The informant also purchased the video camera and extolled martyrdom, according to court papers.

"He certainly penetrated the group, but he was not the provocateur," Mershon said.

The informant, who has been working with the government since 2004, is a twice-convicted drug trafficker. His infiltration of the plotters began when he met Defreitas at a Queens mall in last July, six months after the government received information about the potential attackers.

While driving around New York together a month later, Defreitas first brought up the plot, saying there were "brothers who wanted to do something bigger than the World Trade Center," according to the complaint.

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Read: U.S. Criminal Complaint

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Podcast: CBS News Homeland Security Consultant Paul Kurtz on the arrests and investigation

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The alleged plot conceived of fuel tank explosions causing economic and symbolic damage to the United States. Defreitas predicted the attack could destroy JFK's air traffic control tower and "the whole of Kennedy," according to the complaint.

"They love the man," Defreitas allegedly said, referring to the former President. "If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. It's like you can kill the man twice," he allegedly said in tape recorded conversations.

Officials portrayed Defreitas as motivated as much by anti-Semitism as hatred of the U.S. He told the informant last August that Muslims always "incur the wrath of the world" while Jews "get a pass," according to the complaint.

Defreitas worked as a JFK cargo handler for Evergreen Airlines in the 1990s, according to officials. He allegedly told the informant when he once saw military parts, including missiles, being shipped to Israel, he believed, to kill Muslims. Defreitas "wanted to do something to get those bastards," according to the complaint.

The pipeline draws fuel from a facility 40 miles away in Linden, New Jersey, and is connected to the privately-owned Buckeye Pipeline, which stretches through Pennsylvania.

"None of it is above ground at JFK," Steve Sigmund, chief spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages all three major New York area airports, told CBS News. The double-hulled fuel tanks at JFK lie 300 feet inside the airport's security fence, have electronic sensors, and are subjected to canine patrols. "The fuel farms are heavily protected," Sigmund said.

As the plot developed, the conspirators referred to their target in code, calling the airport "Chicken Farm," according to the complaint.

Accompanied by the informant, Defreitas traveled to Guyana three times in the past year meeting the other conspirators as recently as last week, according to the complaint. Besides the four men charged, at least seven unnamed individuals were allegedly involved in the plot.

The group allegedly sought backing of Jamaat Al Muslimeen, a Muslim extremist group active in South America and Caribbean and based in Trinidad.

In a 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad, JAM took the prime minister and cabinet hostage for six days. JAM has since been involved in drug and weapons trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, money laundering, and murder, according to the FBI.

Defendant Abdul Nur was chosen to meet a JAM leader about the plot, which he allegedly did last month.

Kadir (pictured, left, in a 2004 file photo) had purported connections with "militants" in South America and the Middle East, according to one of the unnamed individuals cited in the complaint.

His wife, Isha, told the Associated Press her husband flew from Guyana to Trinidad on Thursday. In Venezuela, he planned to pick up a travel visa to attend an Islamic religious conference in Iran.

"We have no interest in blowing up anything in the U.S.," she said Saturday from the couple's home in Guyana. "We have relatives in the U.S."

Kadir left his position in the Guyanese 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.

The suspects do not have any known ties to al Qaeda.

One official told CBS News the group was "capability low, intent high."

Though they discussed using dynamite, they had not obtained any explosives or moved beyond an early planning stage. The plot did not involve airplanes or passenger terminals, officials said.

"The bottom line is that we believe that this threat has been fully contained," the FBI's Mershon said at the news conference. "We do not believe the public was ever in danger."

JFK is one of the nation's busiest airports with a thousand flights a day. Almost 4 million passengers flew into or out of the airport in March, according to the Port Authority. Nearly 45 million passengers pass through the airport a year, as does 1.5 million tons of cargo.

These arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged homegrown terrorism plots targeting American landmarks.

Six people were arrested a month ago in an alleged plot to unleash a bloody rampage on Fort Dix in New Jersey.

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. That group is scheduled for trial in September.

Last July, authorities broke up a plot to bomb underwater New York City train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan.

"Once again, would-be terrorists have put New York City in their cross hairs," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly on Saturday. "It tells is that we must remain vigilant, at home and abroad."

CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller and CBS News producers Phil Hirschkorn, Rob Hendin and Ryan Corsaro contributed to this report.

[mdc76082]

hey drummer, there's a big difference in "snapping" off 3 rounds quickly and doing damage, and "quickly" with deadly, accurate damage at a moving distant target + time adrenalin, etc. I doubt the average person with expert marksmanship skills could conjur up the "nerve" required to expel the accuracy for an assassination, unless the one incident (maybe it was) was "pure, dumb luck", and I've seen plenty a deer hunter thats happened to...even myself. Sounds like you 2 had a good discussion.

[toolmangler-2009]

I can dig it Drum but I won't go there.

[drummer94]

Let's not get into that! I have been in the position to really hunt for food. The only thing I could've ate off my hip was my hip.

[toolmangler-2009]

When I hunt I use a Nikon D50 W/300 telephoto. That way I win and they survive. When I need food I eat off my hip anyway. (billfold) Also I can shoot anything I want. (insert wolfwhistle)

[tuckerndfw]

When I deer hunt, I use a model 1917 Remington in 30-06. When I fast-fire practice with it I can snap -off three rounds pretty quick. Still there is no way Oswald did all the shootin'. The wounds tell the tale. Oh, the 1917 is a bolt-action rifle. Cuba,the mob,yeah. Israel??????

Posted by drummer94 at 06:05 PM : Jun 03, 2007

At this point, the truth will most likely never be known. But, it was not possible for Oswald to have used a Mannlicher in the manner described.

Israel was the primary beneficiary of the assassination of JFK. JFK was threatening their then secret nuclear weapons' program and that could not be allowed.

What is even more telling is that Israel was never mentioned as a possible suspect. Which is amazing given the fact Israel had a specific reason to want JFK assassinated.

[drummer94]

When I deer hunt, I use a model 1917 Remington in 30-06. When I fast-fire practice with it I can snap -off three rounds pretty quick. Still there is no way Oswald did all the shootin'. The wounds tell the tale. Oh, the 1917 is a bolt-action rifle. Cuba,the mob,yeah. Israel??????

[feelfree1]

radiob,

Re: "In order to tell a lie of this magnitude you would have to be one great actor."

As we saw with the fraud-based catastrophic war of aggression against Iraq?

Re: "Our nation may not be perfect but it is not so sinister that it would sacrifice 3000 citizens to start a war which I believe is your premise"

This would seem to explain your irrational knee-jerk denial.

Again 'radiob', you continue to insist on arguing this topic from a position of ignorance rather than watch a 21-minute film. This indicates to me that you are determined to believe what you want to believe rather than challenge your preconceptions on this topic.

This is hardly a moderate fair-minded position, and if you insist on maintaining it, then there is little point in discussing this topic with you any further.

[radiob-2009]

The NIST report along with FEMA the entire Bush adminstration managed to keep all of this quiet? In order to tell a lie of this magnitude you would have to be one great actor. Most lies are unfounded on account of discrepancies from the person telling them.In other words they blink.I have watched the videos that make the claims that it was brought down by insiders. I also watched the event unfold before my eyes live on TV. Our nation may not be perfect but it is not so sinister that it would sacrifice 3000 citizens to start a war which I believe is your premise all in the name of oil.Has the US committed atrocities in its history? Yes the native Indians come immediately to mind and the massacres that took place. I would certainly hope that we as a nation have progressed beyond that now.Although the bungle in Iraq might make one question it.

[tuckerndfw]

Where is the proof of this conspiracy on JFK ?

Posted by radiob at 05:28 PM : Jun 03, 2007

The proof is in the fact a Mannlicher cannot be used in the manner described by the Warren Commission.

[feelfree1]

radiob,

The NIST report begins with an unfounded premise- that the WTC7 was brought down by falling debris and fire, then seeks to justify that faulty, unsupported premise.

That is not sound science.

The NIST report attributes the collapse to substantial side damage. Kick out two legs on one side of a chair leaving the other 2 in tact, and let me know if the chair collapses at free-fall speeds into its own footprint, or if it falls over to one side.

What did Larry Silverstein mean when he said, on film, that the decision was made to 'pull it'?

You continue to insist on arguing this topic from a position of ignorance rather than watch a 21-minute film. This indicates to me that you are determined to believe what you want to believe rather than challenge your preconceptions on this topic.

This is hardly a moderate fair-minded position, and if you insist on maintaining it, then there is little point in discussing this topic with you any further.

If you choose to review the discrepancies, and can find any faults, let me know.

[tuckerndfw]

tucker-let me guess. You just watched JFK again? I follow. The snoopin' around I did shows more than 1 shooter. And, I would venture to say, that some folks,closer to home, are the real beneficiaries of this misadventure in the ME.

Posted by drummer94 at 04:37 PM : Jun 03, 2007

I have never seen a movie about the assassination. My opinions are based on my own experiences with a Mannlicher rifle similar to the one allegedly used by Oswald.

Since it is not possible for that rifle to have been used in that manner, it's obvious Oswald did not act alone.

Jack Ruby silenced the only person who might have revealed the truth as he knew it. And, it's likely Oswald didn't know the whole truth since he was obviously a patsy for someone.

Given the fact Jack Ruby (nee Jacob Rubinstein) was an ardent Zionist, along with JFK's demands on Israel in the summer of 1963, it is fairly obvious that Israel was involved. The only question being to what extinct and who all within the Israeli government was involved.

If I had some way of proving the real truth, I would bet very heavily that Israel was directly responsible for JFK's assassination (and subsequent coverup) as well as being heavily involved in the events of 9/11/01.

Israel is the primary beneficiary of both operations.

[radiob-2009]

Tucker

Where is the proof of this conspiracy on JFK ?

[toolmangler-2009]

Purty gud reasonin' fer an old man, wot?

[tuckerndfw]

I am not knowledgeable enough about the JFK assassination to reach this conclusion, but it would not surprise me.

Posted by FeelFree1 at 04:37 PM : Jun 03, 2007

In November 1963, nearly everyone I knew owned at least one rifle, usually a military surplus rifle due to cost and availability (millions were on the market).

Someone within our group owned a Mannlicher much like the one allegedly used by Oswald. We attempted to fire that rifle in the manner described and it could not be done.

There is no possible way a Mannlicher was used to assassinate JFK in the manner described.

At that time, Israel's nuclear reactor was secret, so no one in the public was aware that JFK had issued ultimatums to Israel in the summer of 1963 that the reactor at Dimona not be used to produce nuclear weapons. And, that it be open for inspections.

Since JFK's assassination, no US president has made any similar demands on Israel and all US presidents seemingly jump when Israel barks. And Israel's nuclear reactor is being used to produce nuclear weapons and is not open to inspections.

Without invoking anything but pure logic and the "who benefits most" rule, it appears David Ben-Gurion (Israel) and his thugs were responsible for assassinating JFK.

Israel likewise was the primary beneficiary of the events of 9/11/01.

[toolmangler-2009]

If a structure is sheered at the bottom by a sideways blow and said structure has about half the weight of the Twins and that weight is dropped, oh say the thickness of one supporting floor (1 to 1 1/2 foot thick) there is logical supposition to think that the entire house would fall 'straight down'. I have more if you are interested. The shock of 110 stories of steel and concrete falling straight down would have the effect of an explosive device being set off in a tunnel and the force would move to the sides as defined by the basement structure.

[radiob-2009]

FeelFree1

From NIST itself on WT7 very plausable.

NIST has released video and still-photo analysis of Building 7 before its collapse that appears to indicate a greater degree of structural damage from falling debris than originally assumed by FEMA. Specifically, the NIST's interim report on 7 WTC displays photographs of the southwest ****** of the building that show it to have significant damage. The NIST interim report on 7 WTC details a 10-story gash that existed on the south ******, extending a third of the way across the face of the building and approximately a quarter of the way into the interior, but does not provide any photographs of the damage to the south ******.[2] A unique aspect of the design of 7 WTC was that each outer structural column was responsible for supporting 2,000 square feet (186 square meters) of floor space, suggesting that the simultaneous removal of a number of columns would severely compromise the structure's integrity. Consistent with this theory, news footage shows visible cracking and bowing of the building's east wall immediately before the collapse, which began at the penthouse floors.

[feelfree1]

radiob,

You took the time and effort to research SITE and IntelCenter?

Why are you so reluctant to invest your time in a 21 minute film on this topic?

[feelfree1]

radiob,

You took the time and effort to research SITE and IntelCenter?

Why are you so reluctant to invest your time in a 21 minute film on this issue?

[feelfree1]

radiob,

Re: "Who was it that made the ananlogy of cutting off two legs of a chair and how a chair falls?"

I did. WTC7- not hit by any plane.

Have you reviewed any of the films yet, or will you continue to argue from a position of ignorance, rather than challenge your own faulty and skewed pre-conceptions?

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-5224963246223576086&q=%22third+stage%22

[radiob-2009]

Still going on Tool? Who was it that made the ananlogy of cutting off two legs of a chair and how a chair falls? Poor analogy to compare to the WTC centers. They were not hit at the bottom of the towers whereas a chair that was hit at the "bottom " would fall over.The towers were hit towards the top, the black smoke that billowed out of them was more than likely the result of a insulation fire. Tool you have worked in a Tool and Die shop every see one of these fires. The fire is so intense and hot, and visibility is nill inside the building.