Terrorists Who Planned To Bomb Fuel Lines at JFK Get Life in Prison
By Ellen Cannon
Yesterday, Judge Dora Irizarry sentenced convicted defendant Kareem Ibrahim to life in prison for conspiring to commit a terrorist attack at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York by exploding fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport. Ibrahim’s co-conspirators, Russell Defreitas, a former cargo handler, Abdel Kadir, an engineer and former member of Guyana’s parliament, were also sentenced to life in prison. Abdel Nur, who ventured to New York from Guyana, to attend a meeting regarding the plot which never took place, received fifteen years in prison. The co-conspirators believed their attack would cause extensive damage to the airport and to the New York economy, as well as loss of numerous lives. At the sentencing Judge Irizarry stated, “This case shows the government at its best in terms of protecting the security of the country.”
The case was investigated by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in New York. The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Loretta Lynch.
Kareem Ibrahim was born in Trinidad. He is a member of a Trinidadian Islamic radical group Jamaat al Muslimeem-JAM (The Society of Muslims) and was an acquaintance of Yasin Abu Bakr, the JAM’s leader. The Jamaat al Muslimeen JAM staged a coup on July 27, 1990 during which the Prime Minister of Trinidad and other local notables were taken hostage. Ibrahim is the imam of one of the two main Shiaa Mosques in Trinidad. During the planning stage of the JFK plot he suggested that the plot could help finance terror plots elsewhere. Ibrhaim was arrested on June 6, 2007 and was extradited to the United States on August 6, 2007. On Friday, May 27, 20111 Kareem Ibrahim was convicted by a U.S. Federal Jury. (www.globaljihad.net)
Abdul Kadir was born in Guyana. His family is Shite Muslim. He is a chemical engineer who at one time studied in Iran and became a senior member in the People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), which is the main opposition party In Guyana. He was arrested in Trinidad when he prepared to board a flight to Venezuela with Kareem Ibrahim, in order to pick up a travel visa there to attend an Islamic religious conference in Iran. The arrest of Kadir came on the United States request and coordination on June 1, 2007 over the JFK bomb plot suspicions. He was extradited to the U.S. on August 6, 2007. (www.globalhihad.net)
Russell Defreitas, a Shite Muslim was born in Guyana. He immigrated to the U>S. in 1972 and eventually because a citizen. For a few years he worked as a cargo worker at JFK Airport. On June 1, 2007 he was arrested in Brooklyn by American authorities over suspicions of conspiring to blow up jet fuel supply tanks and a pipeline in JFK International Airport. He was convicted on six counts of terrorism on August 3, 2007.
According to FBI records, a federal jury convicted Ibrahim of multiple offenses in May 2011 after a four week trial. The evidence at trial established that Ibrahim provided religious instruction and operational support to a group plotting to commit a terrorist attack at JFK Airport. The plot originated with Defreitas , the cargo handler. Beginning in 2006, Defreitas recruited others to join the plot. In 2007, Defreitas presented Ibrahim with video surveillance and satellite imagery of the targets for terrorist attacks because Ibrahim had connections with militant leaders in Iran.
According to the New York FBI Field Office report, during a cross examination at the trial Ibrahim admitted that he advised the plotters to present the plot to revolutionary leaders in Iran and to use operatives ready to engage in suicide attacks at the airport. On one of the recorded conversations entered into evidence, Ibrahim told Defreitas that the attacks must be ready to “fight it out, kill who you could kill and go back to Allah.”
Additional evidence presented at the trial indicates that “the conspirators also attempted to enlist support for the plot from prominent international terrorist groups and leaders, including Adnan El Shukrijuman, an al-Qaeda leader and explosives expert and Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of the Trinidadian militant group Jamaat Al Muslimeen. The plotters followed Ibrahim’s direction and sent Kadir to meet with his contacts in the Iranian revolutionary leadership, including Moshen Rabbani, the former cultural attaché indicted for his leading role in the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish Cultural Center in Buenos Aires.”
According to James Carafano and Jessica Zukerman of the Heritage Foundation, more than 40 terror plots have been foiled since 9/11. Several of these plots involved terror activities at major metropolitan area airports. Chicago O’Hare International Airport, was the location of U.S. officials arresting Jose Padilla in May 2002 as he returned in the U.S. from Pakistan, where he met with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and received al-Qaeda training and instructions. Upon his arrest he was charged as an enemy combatant, and for planning to use a dirty bomb in an attack in the U.S. According to Carafano and Zukerman Padilla, along with Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi were convicted in August of terrorism conspiracy and material support. It was found that the men supported cell that sent recruits, money, and supplies to Islamic extremists worldwide, including al Qaeda members. (www.heritage.org 9/11/11)
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