Terror Plot in New York broken up by Feds

[sandman]

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Four men have been charged with conspiring to blow up jet fuel supply tanks and pipelines at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Homeland Security sources said there is no current threat at the airport and the attack as planned was "not technically feasible."

The alleged plot did not target airplane flights, officials said.

A wiretap transcript given to CNN by the FBI indicates the alleged plotters targeted the airport because of the popularity its namesake, John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963.

"Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow ... they love JFK -- he's like the man," former JFK airport cargo worker Russell Defreitas allegedly said in a telephone conversation monitored by the FBI.

"If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. It's like you can kill the man twice," Defreitas allegedly added.

At a Justice Department news conference Saturday afternoon, the plotters were described as "a determined group" whose signature was persistence. (Watch how authorities foiled the plot )

A law enforcement source told CNN Saturday evening that the idea for the plot allegedly came from Defreitas, who also apparently recruited the other men. Those three supposedly directed the effort.

Defreitas, 63, a native of Guyana who has been a U.S. citizen since the 1960s, was arrested in Brooklyn, New York, according to the Justice Department. He was arraigned Saturday in federal court in New York. (Watch experts examine whether the plot could have worked )

Abdul Kadir of Guyana, a former member of the Guyana parliament, and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, are in custody in Trinidad. The United States will seek their extradition.

The fourth suspect, Abdel Nur of Guyana, is being sought.

Defreitas was once a contractor for the aviation company Evergreen Eagle, a law enforcement official told CNN. James Nelson, a company spokesman, said the firm is cooperating with authorities, but declined to provide further information.

Defreitas identified targets and escape routes and assessed airport security, the complaint alleges. Officials said the "defendants obtained satellite photographs of JFK airport and its facilities from the Internet and traveled frequently among the United States, Guyana and Trinidad to discuss their plans and solicit the financial and technical assistance of others."

Group tied to extremists in South America, Caribbean
The Justice statement said the men began planning the assault on January 6. A complaint alleges that the plot tapped into an international network of Muslim extremists from the United States, Guyana and Trinidad.

"The defendants had the connections to present their terrorist plot to radical groups in South America and the Caribbean, including senior leadership of Jamaat Al Muslimeen ('JAM'), which was responsible for a deadly coup attempt in Trinidad in 1990," said Mark J. Mershon, assistant director-in-charge of the FBI's New York field office. "Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths and destruction."

"As the complaint alleges, defendants Kadir and Nur were longtime associates of JAM leaders. Defendant Kareem [Ibrahim] was also preparing to send an emissary overseas to present the plan to extremist networks there when law enforcement stepped in to disrupt it," Mershon said.

An official described the suspects as "al Qaeda wannabes."

In one conversation taped by the FBI, Defreitas allegedly discusses an incident he says motivated him to strike JFK. He claimed he saw military parts being shipped to Israel, including missiles, that he felt would be used to kill Muslims.

He allegedly says he "wanted to do something to get those bastards."

In another recorded conversation with his alleged conspirators in May 2007, Defreitas compared the plot to attack JFK airport with the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, saying, "Even the Twin Towers can't touch it. This can destroy the economy of America for some time," according to Justice officials.

The alleged plot was revealed when the planners tried to recruit a person who was a law enforcement informant, sources said.

Fuel line covers large, populated area
The fuel supply for the airport is linked primarily to the Buckeye Pipeline, which distributes fuel and other petroleum products to sites in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.

"We were concerned, not only about an attack on the fuel tank farms at JFK but along the 40-mile aviation fuel pipeline that courses its way from Linden, New Jersey, through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens," said New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

"The fuel line is the feeding tube that nourishes national and international commerce through LaGuardia and JFK airports."

Kelly said the NYPD's counterterrorism unit conducted a mile-by-mile survey of the pipeline after hearing about the alleged plot.

Suspect's wife denies his involvement
JFK handles on average more than 1,000 flights daily, about half of which are international flights. Each year, the airport processes about 45 million passengers and more than 1.5 million tons of cargo with an estimated value of $120 billion.

Kadir's wife, Isha, told CNN by telephone from Linden, Guyana, that she is shocked by the allegations.

"You know, my husband -- we are Muslims for 33 years," she said. "And no way, at no time we were ever involved in anything of plots of bombing or any plots against America. We are not a part of that. We have family -- both of us -- in America."

She said her husband was arrested Friday while flying to Caracas, Venezuela, to collect an Iranian visa in order to attend an Islamic conference there. In addition to being a former member of the Guyana parliament, she said, he is a former mayor of Linden.

"We are a mother and a father of nine children and 18 grandchildren," she said. "No way will we get into anything like that."

Asked why she thought her husband was arrested, Isha Kadir said it could be related to his connection to Iran. The family is Shiite, she said, and two of her children studied Islamic culture in Iran. But "we have no problem with the United States," she said.

She said Defreitas, whom she knew as Mohammed, visited Guyana for a week at some point, and that she knew the other suspects but hadn't seen Nur in years and did not know Ibrahim well.

She said she has not spoken to her husband since his arrest, but "the truth will stand out clearly. And I believe in God, and I know that God knows our intention, and he knows, and he will, you know, he will play a part in this."

A written statement from the White House said, "The president has been briefed and updated regularly on the progress of the investigation, and this case is a good example of international counterterrorism cooperation."

[judaskennedy]

"Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow ... they love JFK -- he's like the man,"   that guy sounds higher then me

[polluxlm]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

[sandman]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

JFK Terror Suspects Face Extradition
U.S. Officials Attempting To Bring In Two Suspects Arrested In Trinidad

Two suspects in custody in Trinidad face an extradition hearing Monday morning, as the United States seeks to prosecute them for their alleged roles in a plot to blow up jet fuel tanks and a fuel pipeline at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Abdul Kadir and Kareem Ibrahim, who were arrested in Trinidad over the weekend, will go before a magistrate and be asked whether they consent to extradition. If they fight removal, under the U.S.-Trinidad extradition treaty, the U.S, will have 60 days to submit evidence supporting their transfer.

"They have the wrong guy they should do some more investigating," Kadir's wife, Isha, told reporters Sunday on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. "We are praying and asking God for his help and guidance, and we're begging and asking Him to free my husband because he is not a terrorist."

The U.S. first asked Trinidad for help with the arrests Friday evening, according to David West, a prosecutor in Trinidad's the Ministry of the Attorney General. "We had no idea of what this investigation entailed," West told CBS News.

All four men accused are Muslims, foreign-born and middle-aged, according to the FBI. When announcing the arrests Saturday, officials revealed that alleged ringleader Russell Defterios, a former JFK Airport cargo worker, is the sole U.S. citizen and is 63. The rest, it turns out, are 51 to 57 years old.

Kadir, a 56-year-old engineer, is a former mayor and Parliament member in the South American nation of Guyana. Kadir was arrested by Trinidadian police Friday. He was pulled off a flight bound for Venezuela and connecting to Iran, where Kadir's wife says, he was to attend an Islamic conference.

Ibrahim, 51, was born in Guyana but is a citizen of Trinidad.

The fourth suspect, fugitive Abdel Nur, 57, is originally from Pakistan but is a citizen of Guyana.

A senior federal official told CBS News on Sunday the U.S. government considered the JFK cell operational "in the sense that they were taking affirmative steps to move forward with the planning" ? undertaking surveillance, seeking to obtain funding ? "but not in the sense that they had the explosives already or had selected a date to strike."

After 18 months, the official said, arrests were made because investigators had gathered all the intelligence they needed on this group and their operation.

"We could have watched them for another year, but we would not have learned much more of intelligence value," the official said. "What we could not do was walk away and leave them out there."

Defreitas was arrested Friday without incident at the Lindenwood Diner in Brooklyn, New York, where he lives. He is being detained pending a Wednesday bail hearing.

A longtime friend of Defreitas and Queens musician, Ricardo Johnston, said he can't believe the accusations against him. "The level of hatred you would have to have to plot something to injure innocent people ? I saw no signs of that in him at all," Johnston told CBS News. "I would bet all my money that him being the mastermind is utterly ridiculous."

Johnston said he has known Defreitas for 30 years and that his Guyana-born friend was "very happy to be an American citizen." They have not seen each other in five years. "I assumed when I didn't hear from him, he was living happily ever after in Guyana," Johnston said.

Johnston described his friend as neither very political, nor fanatically religious. "He would have to be one of the world's greatest actors for me to know him that long and for him to have these type of qualities," he said.

NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly rejected the notion Sunday that the four men charged were mere terrorist "wanna-bes" since they lacked money, weapons or explosives to carry out the alleged plot.

"Certainly the intention was there. You can see it by the rhetoric, you can see it by the fact that they went to Kennedy Airport on at least four occasions, took in depth specific pictures of the targets, went back and forth on trips to Guyana, to Trinidad," Kelley told CBS News.

The criminal complaint says the men allegedly approached a Muslim extremist group based in Trinidad, Jamaat al-Muslimeen, to finance and arm their operation.

The alleged JFK Airport plot has parallels to a number of other post-September 11th plots the U.S. government has claimed to foil ? suspects with no real ties to al Qaeda, attacks not beyond the talking phase, and undercover informants building the case.

Examples include the seven men who allegedly targeted federal buildings in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago. After they were videotaped taking a phony oath to al Qaeda, they were arrested last summer.

A New York jury last month convicted a Florida doctor, Rafiq Sabir, who planned to aid wounded "jihadists" overseas. He too had taken an al Qaeda oath administered by an undercover agent.

A Pakistani immigrant who plotted in 2004 to bomb a busy Manhattan subway station, Matin Siraj, is now serving 30-years in prison, in part due to a police informant who recorded their conversations.

More recently, five foreign-born men and a U.S. citizen, infiltrated by a pair of informants, were accused of seeking automatic weapons to attack the Fort Dix army base in New Jersey.

In the alleged JFK plot, the informant bought Defreitas his video camera and drove him on those airport scouting trips.

Critics say without the informants, the evidence is otherwise sometimes thin.

Kelly says, "We don't want these cases to go forward. We don't want them to morph into people having the ability to act out."

[polluxlm]

This seems pretty thin. Will be interesting to see where it goes.

[Axlfreek]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

[SLCPUNK]

What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Because this country is supposed to adhere to higher standards and set the bar, not lower it.

[mega_music]

What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Because this country is supposed to adhere to higher standards and set the bar, not lower it.

Fuck that, if we went back to the corporal punishment, and the public ridicule maybe there wouldnt be so many freaks walking the streets every single day. Most sick minded person knows if they fuck up they are going to go somewhere they can have 3 meals a day a hot shower and get treated a hell of a lot better than what there life has now.

[Axlfreek]

What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Because this country is supposed to adhere to higher standards and set the bar, not lower it.

maybe.



But when it comes to a group of people whos sole objective is to kill as many americans as humanly possible, i couldnt care less 

[The Dog]

What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Because this country is supposed to adhere to higher standards and set the bar, not lower it.

maybe.



But when it comes to a group of people whos sole objective is to kill as many americans as humanly possible, i couldnt care less 

emotionally, i agree with you.....but we should consider that maybe torture is one of the reasons people want to kill us in the first place....

don't think for a minute the torture/humiliation at abu gharib isn't used by the terrorist groups in their recruitment videos.  it just gives them another reason/excuse to hate us. 

besides, we are better than that.  or at least we should be.

[SLCPUNK]

besides, we are better than that.  or at least we should be.

We used to be.

[polluxlm]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

First off, you don't know that.

And I care because I don't want us to sink to their level. Vengeance solves nothing. It's super ego more than anything.

[polluxlm]

What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Because this country is supposed to adhere to higher standards and set the bar, not lower it.

Fuck that, if we went back to the corporal punishment, and the public ridicule maybe there wouldnt be so many freaks walking the streets every single day. Most sick minded person knows if they fuck up they are going to go somewhere they can have 3 meals a day a hot shower and get treated a hell of a lot better than what there life has now.

Science disagrees with you. Capitol punishment actually increases crime.

[Axlfreek]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Vengeance solves nothing. It's super ego more than anything.

You talk as if you actually know what goes on behind the curtains of the war on terror. Have you ever stopped to think how many terror plots might have been stopped using this method for information ?

I'm not saying that I am for or against torture as a way to get information. But in this case, if it means saving hundreds to thousands of lives, well, FUCK REPUTATION

[polluxlm]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Vengeance solves nothing. It's super ego more than anything.

You talk as if you actually know what goes on behind the curtains of the war on terror. Have you ever stopped to think how many terror plots might have been stopped using this method for information ?

I'm not saying that I am for or against torture as a way to get information. But in this case, if it means saving hundreds to thousands of lives, well, FUCK REPUTATION

What I'm saying is non-dependent on situation and reason. If we want to change something, and set examples, we need to stop acting out on violence and hatred. It's something all the politicians love to proclaim, but in reality it's a hollow display.

Let me ask you this; what if instead of trying to hunt down everybody that hates us, with all needs necessary, we tried to search for the reason for all this hatred?

Maybe, then, it would go away.

[JennaSide]

The US is much larger than just New York - why us? Go pick on another city for a while. 

[Axlfreek]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Vengeance solves nothing. It's super ego more than anything.

You talk as if you actually know what goes on behind the curtains of the war on terror. Have you ever stopped to think how many terror plots might have been stopped using this method for information ?

I'm not saying that I am for or against torture as a way to get information. But in this case, if it means saving hundreds to thousands of lives, well, FUCK REPUTATION

What I'm saying is non-dependent on situation and reason. If we want to change something, and set examples, we need to stop acting out on violence and hatred. It's something all the politicians love to proclaim, but in reality it's a hollow display.

Let me ask you this; what if instead of trying to hunt down everybody that hates us, with all needs necessary, we tried to search for the reason for all this hatred?

Maybe, then, it would go away.

Dude,

WE KNOW EXACTLY WHY THEY HATE US AND WHY THEY WANT KILL US !

you think sitting down and talking it over is going to work with these extremists ?

[Axlfreek]

The US is much larger than just New York - why us? Go pick on another city for a while.?

how rude of them 

[Where is Hassan Nasrallah ?]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Vengeance solves nothing. It's super ego more than anything.

You talk as if you actually know what goes on behind the curtains of the war on terror. Have you ever stopped to think how many terror plots might have been stopped using this method for information ?

I'm not saying that I am for or against torture as a way to get information. But in this case, if it means saving hundreds to thousands of lives, well, FUCK REPUTATION

What I'm saying is non-dependent on situation and reason. If we want to change something, and set examples, we need to stop acting out on violence and hatred. It's something all the politicians love to proclaim, but in reality it's a hollow display.

Let me ask you this; what if instead of trying to hunt down everybody that hates us, with all needs necessary, we tried to search for the reason for all this hatred?

Maybe, then, it would go away.

Dude,

WE KNOW EXACTLY WHY THEY HATE US AND WHY THEY WANT KILL US !

you think sitting down and talking it over is going to work with these extremists ?

why ? tell me why.




ps: if you're a troll and you're just acting dumb and ignorant, please tell me, it'll save us time.
cause you're too clich? too be taken seriously. thanks.

[Axlfreek]

So...will there be a trial or the usual trip to the torture camp?

These terrorists were attempting to kill a lot of people.


What do you care if they get tortured or not ?

Vengeance solves nothing. It's super ego more than anything.

You talk as if you actually know what goes on behind the curtains of the war on terror. Have you ever stopped to think how many terror plots might have been stopped using this method for information ?

I'm not saying that I am for or against torture as a way to get information. But in this case, if it means saving hundreds to thousands of lives, well, FUCK REPUTATION

What I'm saying is non-dependent on situation and reason. If we want to change something, and set examples, we need to stop acting out on violence and hatred. It's something all the politicians love to proclaim, but in reality it's a hollow display.

Let me ask you this; what if instead of trying to hunt down everybody that hates us, with all needs necessary, we tried to search for the reason for all this hatred?

Maybe, then, it would go away.

Dude,

WE KNOW EXACTLY WHY THEY HATE US AND WHY THEY WANT KILL US !

you think sitting down and talking it over is going to work with these extremists ?

why ? tell me why.




ps: if you're a troll and you're just acting dumb and ignorant, please tell me, it'll save us time.
cause you're too clich? too be taken seriously. thanks.

its a good thing nobody here likes you or really cares what you have to say.


otherwise i think i would be a little offended.