Plotters planned to dwarf September 11 June 5, 2007
Posted by Scarecrow in 06/04/07 Brisbane Times.trackback
Plotters planned to dwarf September 11
Mark Coultan Herald Correspondent in New York and agencies | June 4, 2007
IT WAS a plot worthy of a disaster movie. Destroy New York’s largest airport in a dastardly explosion.
Unfortunately for the alleged plotters, not only was the idea outlandish and highly unlikely to succeed, but authorities had been recording the conversations of the plotters for the past 18 months.
The plot, in the words of one of the alleged ringleaders, would have caused “greater destruction than in the September 11 attacks”, and devastated the American economy.
Four men are alleged to have planned to blow up fuel pipelines, fuel tanks, and buildings at John F. Kennedy International Airport.
The FBI said the suspects had conducted surveillance of the airport using photographs and satellite images downloaded from Google Earth. One of the men, Russell Defreitas, was a retired cargo handler at the airport. Another was Abdul Kadir, a former mayor of a Guyanese town and a former member of the Guyanese Parliament.
He was arrested in Trinidad after a plane bound for Venezuela, in which he was a passenger, was turned around. His wife has denied he was involved in any terrorist plot. He is said to have been helping Defreitas, 63, to plan the attack and secure financing for it.
Defreitas, who sells books on street corners and exports broken air-conditioners to Guyana, was arraigned in a Brooklyn court and denied bail.
A third man, Kareem Ibrahim, was arrested in Trinidad. A fourth, Abdel Nur, is still at large and believed also to be in Trinidad.
Defreitas was recorded by an FBI informant as allegedly saying that JFK Airport, which handles 45 million passengers a year, was targeted because it would put “the whole country in mourning”.
“It’s like you can kill the man twice,” Defreitas allegedly said.
He has also boasted that he had been taught to make bombs in Guyana.
A lawyer, Roslynn Mauskopf, said it was one of the most chilling plots imaginable. “The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable.”
But experts cast doubt on the practicalities of the plot. The airport is fed by a series of pipelines which supply jet fuel and heating oil. In many cases the pipes are under the tarmac and are laid to the gates where planes park.
Sabotaging one part of the system would be highly unlikely to lead to a chain explosion. Also jet fuel does not produce an explosive force unless it is under pressure or vaporised. The pipelines and tanks have safety valves, which would contain any mishap.
