New York – Federal authorities said Saturday that they had broken up a suspected terrorist cell planning a “chilling” attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet-fuel artery that runs through residential neighborhoods.
Three men, one of them a former member of Guyana’s Parliament, were arrested and one was being sought on the island of Trinidad as part of a plot that authorities said they had tracked for more than a year and was foiled in the planning stages.
“The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable,” U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it “one of the most chilling plots imaginable.”
In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would “cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks,” destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of the borough of Queens, where the line runs underground.
One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and retired JFK air cargo employee, said the airport named for the slain president was targeted because it is a symbol that would put “the whole country in mourning.”
“It’s like you can kill the man twice,” said Defreitas, 63, who first hatched his plan more than a decade ago when he worked as a cargo handler for a service company, according to the indictment.
Authorities said the men were motivated by hatred toward the U.S., Israel and the West.
Defreitas was arraigned Saturday afternoon in federal court but did not enter a plea. He was to be held pending a bail hearing set for Wednesday, prosecutors said.
Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad were in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was being sought in Trinidad.
The pipeline, owned by Buckeye Pipeline Co., takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
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 left Parliament last year.
JFK and the area’s other airports remained at a heightened state of alert Saturday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said.
