Terror Plot "One Of The Most Chilling Imaginable"

Terror Plot "One Of The Most Chilling Imaginable"

First On WNBC.com



POSTED: 10:45 am EDT June 2, 2007
UPDATED: 3:07 pm EDT June 2, 2007

NEW YORK -- As first reported by NewsChannel4's Jonathan Dienst, three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plot to blow up jet-fuel lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, officials said.

Four people have been charged. Three suspects are in custody: Russell Defreitas, Kareem Ibrihim and Abdul Kadir. Another suspect, Abdul Nur is still at large.



Defreitas is to be arrainged Saturday in Brooklyn on terror conspiracy charges.
Sources said Defreitas, a former cargo worker at JFK allegedly began to plot attacking the US last July or August. Defeitas sought help in carrying out a plan and went to an FBI informant, who gathered information about the plot.

U.S. 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 at a news conference.

Defreitas is a U.S. citizen with roots in Guyana.

Kadir, a 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, a Muslim, 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.

Sources said counter-terrorism officials have been following the plot for a little less than one year.

Sources said the plot involved a plan to blow up a Buckeye jet-fuel pipeline at JFK setting off a potential massive explosion. Buckeye provides fuel to all three NYC-area airports.

Buckeye spokesman Roy Haase said the company, which moves petroleum through pipelines in a number of states, had been informed of the threat from the beginning.

"Given the nature of Buckeye business and the importance of this transportation network, we have an intense and ongoing communications relationship with the Port Authority, the New York City fire and police departments, the federal Department of Homeland Security and the FBI," he said.

Sources said the plot involved putting explosives inside the fuel pipeline but realized that "it was not technically feasible."

Officials said the plot may also have included plans to hit the JFK terminal buildings and aircraft, in addition to the fuel lines.

In discussing JFK airport as a target, Defreitas exulted over JFK airport’s symbolic importance, according to a U.S. Justice Department complaint:

"Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F. Kennedy, wow .... 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. "

In a later recorded conversation with his coconspirators in May 2007, Defreitas compared the plot to attack JFK airport to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, stating, “even the Twin Towers can’t touch it,” adding that, “this can destroy the economy of America for some time.”

Sources said the planning stages of the plot involved surveillance of JFK airport as well as scouting out US properties in Guyana for possible attacks.

Aviation officials said there is no major threat to air travel related to this plot since it was caught in the developmental stages.

One law enforcement official said: "[There was] credible intent to commit violence but it was not operational."

Officials said the suspects never got hold of explosive devices.

"This was the ultimate hand-and-glove operation between NYPD and FBI," said U.S. 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.

Stay with WNBC.com for the latest on this developing story.

http://www.wnbc.com/news/13431721/de...l?dl=mainclick

Yeah, if you notice the news reorters keep going on and on about how the suspects got info, maps and made contacts on the INTERNET! OMG! NOT THE INTERNET! Now the internet is some evil terrorist tool. And you notice they are talking about the "home-grown" aspect alot. Like everyone needs to police each other. They are totally going to use this to try and police the internet even more and with public support. And the public is getting groomed to police each other. To dissent is going to more and more dangerous.

Fox News jumped on this like a fly on shit.

ALERT!!!

Yeah, it will be milked for all its worth. Oh, but God forbid any actual real reporting going on, any real news! This shit is used for policy change, to change public perspective and so on. It is total bull.

I AGREE - this is a Total Bullshit Story

another entrapment set-up of some muslim men .... meant to cause more war and less freedoms

I ain't buying. BTW, all the other "terrorist plans" have turned out to be bullshit stories also. Anyone ordering pizza today?? LOL

Anyone else catch the part where they say it was determined to be not mechanically feasible? In other words, it wouldn't have worked. End of story, or should have been except for the reasons you guys stated.
AND this helps to justify homeland security. See, we're out there protecting you from the evil brown people! Now we need another 14 billion and some more of your freedom!

evil brown people? ...the Ewoks?

Reminds me of all those other plots which turned out to be either nothing or some dudes dudes discussing a plot.

and all the sheep said "baaaaaahhhhhhhh"

and they were skaird

LMFAO :))

Foiled US bomb plot 'homegrown'

From correspondents in Washington

June 04, 2007 05:32am

Article from: Agence France-Presse
A FOILED plot to bomb New York's main international airport was a "homegrown" plan not directly linked to al-Qaeda, a top US intelligence official said overnight, although the militant Islamic network may have inspired it.


The New York plotters had "as far as we know, no direct ties to al-Qaeda", FBI Assistant Director John Miller told ABC news overnight.

But he appeared to link the planned attacks to the al-Qaeda network's influence.

"They pump out the propaganda encouraging it, while they plan the next big one (attack), and I think you can see that in the eight or so plots that have been unravelled in the last roughly two years" on US soil, he said.

"When you're looking at inspired through the Internet, homegrown extremists, well they can pop up anywhere."

The New York plot allegedly was linked to Jamaat al Muslimeen, described by justice officials as an international network of Muslim extremists from the US, Guyana and Trinidad.

Jamaat al Muslimeen is "a group that's been engaged in violence. They've taken hostages," Mr Miller said.

Four suspected Islamic extremists from South America and the Caribbean have been charged over the plot, including an American citizen who was a cargo handler at the airport, and Abdul Kadir, a former member of Guyana's parliament.

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 1000 flights and more than 120,000 passengers daily.

"They had done up to four surveillances. They were searching for funding and explosives. So on that level, it was certainly operational," Mr Miller said.

Authorities said the explosions would also have devastated large portions of nearby Queens, a borough of New York City.

The plot was uncovered barely three weeks after the arrest of six suspected Islamic radicals on charges of plotting to attack the US army base of Fort Dix in New Jersey.

Other alleged plots believed to have been thwarted in New York since the September 11 attacks included plans to blow up a subway station and to bomb commuter train tunnels linking Manhattan to New Jersey.

Mr Miller downplayed earlier reports that al-Qaeda had a minimal presence in the US, stressing that the movement's "propaganda" aimed to inspire home-grown plotters.

"Al-Qaeda continues every day to try and plan the larger, spectacular attack, something along the lines of a 9/11 equivalent," he said, referring to the massive attacks on the US in 2001.

"At the same time, they pump out an awful lot of propaganda aimed at getting those who think they can find the wherewithal to act on their own to do that."