Realterror News Articles

Bakr denies involvement in JFK plot; extradition trial going to Privy Council

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad, June 5, 2007 - The shock in the Caribbean over the initial news that four of its own were charged with conspiring to blow up JFK International Airport has worn off and is being replaced by doubt given the lack of capacity and ability of the alleged plotters to execute the plan.

Head of the radical Jamaat al Muslimeen in Trinidad has denied involvement and lawyers for the two suspects held in Trinidad announced they will fight extradition all the way to the British Privy Council – something that could take years.

The fourth suspect who remains at large, Guyanese Abdel Nur whose real name is Campton Eversley, has been declared “armed and dangerous” by the Trinidad police. However neighbours in Guyana described him as an addict who couldn’t “plan the next day,” much less a terror attack. He was last known to be in Trinidad but his current whereabouts are unknown. He was reported by the US District Attorney prosecuting the case to have met with Abu Bakr leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen in Trinidad in May to plan the attacks in detail.
NO CAPACITY TO HELP
Since the Muslimeen’s coup in 1990 against the then ANR Robinson government the group has been under virtual offensive by the law enforcement authorities and today no longer possess the ability to carry out terrorist acts, far less a plot of the magnitude of what was revealed by the Americans at the weekend.

Trinidadian author, Selwyn Ryan, who has written about Jamaat al Muslimeen, is doubtful about the Muslimeen’s involvement.

“Jamaat is way past its hey day,” he said, adding that they and the alleged plotters were from two different sects within Islam (Sunni and Shi’ites) which are now locked in combat in Iraq.

While neither confirming nor denying that he knew the men Abu Bakr, head of the Jamaat al Muslimeen, has been quoted by the Associated Press in Trinidad as saying distancing himself from any such plot.

“I know nothing about these men, and I have nothing to do with whatever they are being charged for,” Abu Bakr said, adding that “you know why they are linking me with this so-called plot is to bias the minds of jurors who will be sitting in my case.”

Bakr is referring to a pending trial in which he is facing charges stemming from a 2005 sermon in which he called for war against rich Muslims who refuse to pay zakaat, an Islamic tithe used to alleviate poverty. The week after the sermon, he was arrested by police who razed the group’s compound and charged him with sedition and incitement to violence.

Three other accused are in custody, two in Trinidad and one in New York.

Abdul Kadir, a former member of the Guyana Parliament and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad who were arrested here Friday appeared in Court Monday and charged with one count each of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against the United States government. A bail hearing has been set for June 11 and an extradition hearing for August 2. Their attorney Rajid Persad said they will be fighting the extradition signalling that this matter could be headed as far as British Privy Council (Trinidad’s highest Appellate Court) for a decision which could take months and even more than a year.

A third suspect, Russell Defreitas, is former JFK air cargo employee, who was arrested in New York made his court appearance Saturday.

PLOT WOULD NOT SUCCEED
Since the plot was uncovered few people knew about this fuel pipeline feeding the JFK International Airport.

New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said they spend considerable time protecting very visible and landmark sites but “we also protect the anonymous, unheralded elements of infrastructure that are essential to the life of the city.”

One such is the pipeline which runs 40 miles and passes through a section of the Queens residential neighbourhood.

According to reports even if the men were to be able to contact a bomb maker and even if they were to get their hands one explosives and even if they were successful at lighting the charges the attack would not have been successful.

Why?

According to authorities, the pipeline was designed to shut off when it detected heat, a feature that would have prevented the chain-reaction explosion that the plotters allegedly envisioned. Getting into the airport to plant bombs would have been virtually impossible they said.