‘Plot to blow up New York airport would have made 9/11 look small’
An alleged plot to blow up the pipeline and tanks that feed jet fuel to John F. Kennedy international airport, in New York, was thwarted at the weekend with the arrest of a “cell” of Islamic extremists from the Caribbean.
It is claimed that the alleged plotters planned to destroy the “whole of Kennedy” in a series of explosions that would make the September 11 attack “seem small”.
“Any time you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States,” one alleged plotter told an informant. “They love John F. Kennedy like he’s the man . . . if you hit that, this whole country will be mourning. You can kill the man twice.”
A retired airport cargo worker and a former member of the Guyanese parliament were among three men arrested. A fourth man, believed to be in Trinidad, last night remained at large.
The suspects are alleged to have reached out for help to Jamaat al Muslimeen, the black Muslim group that held the Prime Minister and Parliament of Trinidad hostage for five days in a failed coup attempt in 1990. They also allegedly sought contact with other unidentified overseas backers.
Roslynn Mauskopf, the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, called it “one of the most chilling plots imaginable”.
However, experts cast doubt on whether the plan could have triggered the chain-reaction of explosions down the pipeline that the suspects allegedly hoped.
The alleged plot, code-named “Chicken Farm”, is understood to have been first detected by the CIA in South America and the Caribbean, triggering a 16-month sting operation. A convicted drug trafficker working as a government informant befriended a former airport cargo worker, Russell Defreitas, whom he knew from a Brooklyn mosque.
It is claimed that Mr Defreitas, 63, a naturalised US citizen born in Guyana, told the informant that he wanted to attack the airport because in the early 1990s he had seen missiles being shipped to Israel while he was working for Evergreen International Aviation.
Mr Defreitas, who has two children and is estranged from his wife, told the informant that “brothers” would come to New York from Guyana and Trinidad to mount the attack, according to prosecutors.
The two men videotaped fuel tanks and a section of the 12-in pipeline at Kennedy airport and studied the layout using Google Earth images.
According to court papers, Mr Defreitas predicted that the explosions in the underground pipeline would not only destroy the airport but also part of the surrounding residential area of Queens, through which it passes on its 40-mile route from Linden, New Jersey.
“Even the Twin Towers can’t touch it,” Mr Defreitas is claimed to have bragged. “This can destroy the economy of America for some time.”
Mr Defreitas and the informant travelled to Guyana and Trinidad to seek support, prosecutors claim. One of those arrested was Abdul Kadir, 55, a former mayor and member of the Guyanese parliament who is now an Islamic imam. Prosecutors say he arranged a meeting about the alleged plot with the head of Jamaat al Muslimeen. Mr Kadir’s wife, Isha, said her husband was taken into custody on Friday after boarding a flight to Venezuela.
The third suspect, also arrested in Trinidad, was identified as Kareem Ibrahim, 61, an associate of Mr Kadir. Prosecutors say he offered to present the plan to potential funders.
The fourth suspect is a Guyanese citizen of Pakistani descent named Abdel Nur, 57, who said he had presented the plan to the head of Jamaat al Muslimeen, court papers say.
James Bone in New York
From The Times
June 4, 2007
© Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times.
London UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1878748.ece
It is claimed that the alleged plotters planned to destroy the “whole of Kennedy” in a series of explosions that would make the September 11 attack “seem small”.
“Any time you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States,” one alleged plotter told an informant. “They love John F. Kennedy like he’s the man . . . if you hit that, this whole country will be mourning. You can kill the man twice.”
A retired airport cargo worker and a former member of the Guyanese parliament were among three men arrested. A fourth man, believed to be in Trinidad, last night remained at large.
The suspects are alleged to have reached out for help to Jamaat al Muslimeen, the black Muslim group that held the Prime Minister and Parliament of Trinidad hostage for five days in a failed coup attempt in 1990. They also allegedly sought contact with other unidentified overseas backers.
Roslynn Mauskopf, the federal prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, called it “one of the most chilling plots imaginable”.
However, experts cast doubt on whether the plan could have triggered the chain-reaction of explosions down the pipeline that the suspects allegedly hoped.
The alleged plot, code-named “Chicken Farm”, is understood to have been first detected by the CIA in South America and the Caribbean, triggering a 16-month sting operation. A convicted drug trafficker working as a government informant befriended a former airport cargo worker, Russell Defreitas, whom he knew from a Brooklyn mosque.
It is claimed that Mr Defreitas, 63, a naturalised US citizen born in Guyana, told the informant that he wanted to attack the airport because in the early 1990s he had seen missiles being shipped to Israel while he was working for Evergreen International Aviation.
Mr Defreitas, who has two children and is estranged from his wife, told the informant that “brothers” would come to New York from Guyana and Trinidad to mount the attack, according to prosecutors.
The two men videotaped fuel tanks and a section of the 12-in pipeline at Kennedy airport and studied the layout using Google Earth images.
According to court papers, Mr Defreitas predicted that the explosions in the underground pipeline would not only destroy the airport but also part of the surrounding residential area of Queens, through which it passes on its 40-mile route from Linden, New Jersey.
“Even the Twin Towers can’t touch it,” Mr Defreitas is claimed to have bragged. “This can destroy the economy of America for some time.”
Mr Defreitas and the informant travelled to Guyana and Trinidad to seek support, prosecutors claim. One of those arrested was Abdul Kadir, 55, a former mayor and member of the Guyanese parliament who is now an Islamic imam. Prosecutors say he arranged a meeting about the alleged plot with the head of Jamaat al Muslimeen. Mr Kadir’s wife, Isha, said her husband was taken into custody on Friday after boarding a flight to Venezuela.
The third suspect, also arrested in Trinidad, was identified as Kareem Ibrahim, 61, an associate of Mr Kadir. Prosecutors say he offered to present the plan to potential funders.
The fourth suspect is a Guyanese citizen of Pakistani descent named Abdel Nur, 57, who said he had presented the plan to the head of Jamaat al Muslimeen, court papers say.
James Bone in New York
From The Times
June 4, 2007
© Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
Times Online, The Times and The Sunday Times.
London UK
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article1878748.ece
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