Dreams Into Lightning 2

JFK Terror Plot

Latest updates. Tammy Bruce: 'As I noted about an offhand comment made by one of the Islamists wife, there seems to be quite a direct connection to the JFK Airport plot to both Venezuela and Iran. Now, the FBI is making noise that they, too, are curious about the situation. The fact that this is news to them concerns me. Chavez and Ahmadinejad have been making eyes at each other for quite some time, even to the point last year of Chevez offering Venezuela as aplace for Iran to park some of its warplanes.

I have also reminded you on various occassions about al-Qiada, Hamas and Hezbollah running the drug operations in South America, and using the Mexican border as a conduit for Islamists terrorists. Thism akes the absurdity of the amnesty bill the monumental danger to homeland security. Even though Michael Chertoff seems to be more worries about $50 lettuce.'

Abdul Nur, 4th suspect in JFK terror plot, surrenders. 'A Guyanese suspect in an alleged plot to bomb a fuel pipeline feeding New York's John F. Kennedy Airport surrendered to police Tuesday in Trinidad, a police official said. Abdel Nur turned himself in at a police station outside the Trinidadian capital of Port-of-Spain, police spokeswoman Wendy Campbell told The Associated Press. "This is the fourth of the group we were looking for" in the alleged plot to blow up fuel lines that feed the airport, said FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko in Washington. ... The others arrested include a former opposition member of Guyana's parliament and a former airport air cargo employee who was arrested in New York. ... U.S. authorities claim the alleged plotters unsuccessfully sought support in Trinidad from Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group that staged a deadly coup attempt in the Caribbean nation in 1990. In addition to Nur, Trinidadian authorities are holding two suspects: Abdul Kadir, the former Guyanese lawmaker, and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad. They are fighting extradition to the United States. The other suspect named, Russell Defreitas, is a former JFK air cargo employee who was arrested in New York. He is a U.S. citizen native to Guyana, a former Dutch and British colony on the northern coast of South America.' Go to the link for full story.

KEYE-42 (CBS) has more, with quotes from anti-terrorism expert Richard Miniter. They've also got a still from the video at Lindenwood Diner where Defreitas took his last breaths as a free man. And reminders that this nutjob was nursing a grudge against America and Israel for a long time.

CNN: Four men charged. This item has a good video segment by CNN (worth sitting through the commercial).

Remarks. One thing that's starting to bug me about this story is that the Government's assessment of the plot seems to be inconsistent: it would have resulted in a "significant loss of life" (Mark Mershon, FBI) and yet it "wasn't technically feasible" (Homeland Security). Well, which is it? It might be possible to reconcile these two statements, but on the face of things it looks as if the Feds can't make up their minds.

JFK Terror Plot Update

Fourth suspect armed, dangerous, and at large.

A fourth suspect in the alleged plot to attack New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, who is still at large, is considered "armed and dangerous," the police commissioner in Port of Spain, Trinidad, said Monday.

   

A photograph of Abdel Nur — a Guyanese man described as 176 centimeters tall with black and gray hair and brown eyes — was distributed after the news conference, held by Police Commissioner Trevor Paul. ...

JFK Terror Plot Update

James S. Robbins at NRO:

Reading the indictment against the four would-be JFK airport bombers, Russell Defreitas, Abdul Nur, Kareem Ibrihim and Abdul Kadir, I was struck by the phrase “together with others” which frequently followed their names. It is on page 1, page 2, page 3, twice on page 4. In the course of the document we are introduced to these others, known only as Individuals A-G. There must be some legal rationale why we can’t know their identities. It surely can’t be to conceal from the Individuals that we know what they were up to; they must have figured out who is which letter by now. But until we know who Messrs. A-G are, we can’t know the extent of the network, or the magnitude of the threat.

Of the six, the most interesting are A and E. “A” is one of the ringleaders of the plan, playing a key role in conceptualizing and promoting it. Yet for some reason, he was not indicted. “E” is even more important — a businessman in Georgetown Guyana, who funds jihadists on their missions and comes across in the indictment as extremely knowledgeable in matters of terrorism. It seems as though he has done this many times before. He served as a mentor for the prospective attackers, but eventually pulled out of the plan when he thought it might be compromised. Good instincts.

“E” is also a friend and associate of Yasin Abu Bakr, leader of the Trinidad and Tobago extremist group Jamaat al-Muslimeen (JAM). ...

Once the case goes to trial one name that may pop up is Adnan Gulshair Muhammad El Shukrijumah — alias Abu Arif, or Jafar Al-Tayar. He is a computer engineer, born in Saudi Arabia, son of a Wahabbist missionary who moved to Guyana when Adnan was three. He later spent many years in Trinidad where he was associated with the Darul-Uloom Insitute, another of the ubiquitous Islamic study centers. He also stayed for a time in south Florida. He has been closely involved with al Qaeda, and it is said he was hand picked by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to maintain the terror network in the Americas. In 2002 he was in Canada looking for “dirty bomb” components, and in 2003 a warrant was issued for his arrest. In 2004 he was named as a prime suspect in a planned attack on the United States, and Attorney General John Ashcroft described Shukrijumah "as the most dangerous of seven Al-Qa'ida operatives suspected of planning strikes in the US." There is a $5 million reward for information leading to is arrest. If word was out in that community about a planned attack on the U.S., Shukrijuma would be someone the plotters would have liked to have met, and vice versa.

Shukrijumah has not been spotted recently, though there was a report that he had holed up with wealthy Guyanese businessman Farouk Razac. Razac had been in and out of trouble with the law for years, on weapons and drug charges mostly. It would be interesting if Razac turned out to be individual E, especially since he was murdered in his home on May 8. His wife, Carolan Lynch, has been charged with the crime, and is also the reigning Mrs. South America. Imagine putting all that together with the JFK plot. If nothing else it’s a great screenplay. ...

Go to the link for the rest.  Robbins echoes Michael Cutler's skepticism at the "homegrown terrorism" label for this operation, and notes a "certain amateurishness" about the plot, as well as a fascination with Abu Bakr's "star power".

JFK Terror Plot Update

Related:  JFK terror plot.  Adnan Shukrijumah, nuclear terrorist.

New items:

CTB:  More like Russell Defreitas? 

Russell Defreitas, the ringleader of the terror group is also identified in the indictment, by an alias "Mohammed." He has been identified as being a naturalized United States citizen. Another of the defendants, Kareem Ibrahim has an alias of "Amir Kareem." These alternate identities are noted in that indictment. Two of the suspects were arrested in Trinidad and Tobago while the fourth is being sought. The fact that these terror suspects were apparently able to move across our borders raises the question as to how they were able to gain access to the United States, presuming that they had been, at some point in time, in the United States.

Additionally, it would appear that our authorities who did a great job in putting the investigation together but that some good luck played a part. The news reports I have heard stated that the terrorists sought the assistance of an FBI informant who immediately contacted his handlers at the FBI and alerted them as to the plot. If indeed this is the way that the plot came to light, then we are fortunate, indeed, that the terrorists reached out to an informant and not someone who was truly sympathetic to their cause. The survival of our nation and our citizens needs to depend on more than luck! Additionally, this case makes it clear that informants are essential to the security to our nation. The cultivation of informants who have access to foreign nationals or who can operate in an undercover capacity to infiltrate a terror cell would be greatly enhanced by having many more special agents at ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

Finally, I think that it is important that we also consider how thoroughly employees at airports are screened. ...

Michael Cutler stresses the immigration component of this plot, and questions the label of "homegrown terrorism" as it is applied here.  Full post at the link.

New York Post:  Feds targeted Shukrijumah.

Al Qaeda's so-called nuclear whiz kid - a "tantalizing terror figure" with a $5 million bounty on his head - was the radical big shot investigators had hoped to snag in their 18-month JFK-plot probe, The Post has learned.

The name of "invisible hand" Adnan Gulshair el-Shukrijumah, reportedly the man Osama bin Laden tapped to lead a previous scheme to detonate nuclear bombs simultaneously in several U.S. cities, came up at several points in taped conversations during the probe, according to law-enforcement sources familiar with the investigation.

Three Muslim men were nabbed Friday in the alleged plan to attack John F. Kennedy International Airport - the "chicken farm," as they dubbed it - which involved exploding a jet-fuel pipeline. A fourth suspect is at large.

Given Shukrijumah's notoriety in the terror world and the fact that he grew up in Guyana, as did three of the suspects, probers immediately homed in on him.

"Eyebrows went up," said one law-enforcement source.

"We thought he could be the invisible hand. He's always in the shadows, particularly in [the Caribbean]. He's passed through it, he's known, his name came up in the conversations. ...

Informant Played Key Role in JFK Terror Bust

Russell Defreitas and his accomplices were foiled with some help from a convicted drug dealer turned informant, according to this article at the Post Star (Glens Falls, NY): 

According to court papers and investigators, the informant began working for the government in 2004, after his second drug-trafficking conviction in New York, and he quickly proved to be a credible source.

He was sent to meet with the JFK plot's alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas in 2006 and was introduced by an unidentified third party. Defreitas quickly accepted the informant as legitimate, saying he was sure they knew each other through a Brooklyn mosque.

The informant was convincing. Defreitas, according to a federal complaint, believed the informant "had been sent by Allah to be the one" to pull off the bombing.

Allah works in strange and wondrous ways.

Russel Defreitas and Homegrown Terrorism

Previous post:  JFK terror plot.

CTB:  'While another plot has been averted, we need to continue to work to combat the radicalization process itself. In many other countries, we may not be the persons best situated to do that. But at home, there means ongoing engagement in Muslim communities locally, to deter extremism, just as such engagement was necessary a decade ago with the domestic militias. We have seen other domestic extremist theats -- from the anarchists to the black militants and Weather Underground of the 1960's to the militias of the early 1990's, quieted after absorbing the horror of one or another civic outrage against the innocent. What we have seen in common with each of these dangerous movements fizzling out is the lost of belief in the underlying ideology that sustained the terrorist fervor, and the integration of persons who once could have been subjects from recruitment into the opportunities of mainstream society.'  Read the whole thing here.

JFK Terror Plot

June 3 - Via IRIS, here's a portrait of this lovely Russell Defreitas fellow from WCBS-TV:  'As a cargo handler at John F. Kennedy International Airport, Russell Defreitas watched military parts be shipped to Israel and believed they would be used to kill Muslims. He seethed with rage against the U.S. and Israel for more than a decade after retirement before finally deciding, authorities said, that he wanted to “get those bastards.” Drawing on his inside knowledge of the massive airport, Defreitas conspired with three men to blow up the airport’s underground jet fuel tanks and its pipeline in a spectacular attack designed to kill thousands in the populous neighborhood, authorities said. ...'  More details at the link.

ThreatsWatch (update - June 3):  'While we investigate, research and analyze developments and background regarding the terrorist plot to bomb fuel storage tanks at JFK Airport, ThreatsWatch will publish interesting details via RapidRecon.  Earlier, Kyle Dabruzzi noted the more troubling stated operation of “to smuggle individuals, including mujahideen, from Asia into Guyana and then into the United States.”

One other interesting and noteworthy item is that the development of the JFK plot included interconnection and cooperation between Shi’a and Sunni terrorist groups. Abdul Kadir, the former Minister of Parliament (2001-2006) in Guyana, is Shi’a Imam in Guyana. The named among his network (see the formal complaint) included Abdel Nur, a Shi’a also from Guyana, and Kareem Ibrahim, a Shi’a imam of “one of the two leading Shia mosques in Trinidad,” according to a report in the Trinidad and Tobago Express. Interestingly, Kadir was arrested trying to make his way to Venezuela, presumably enroute to Iran.'

Full details at the link.

ThreatsWactch (update):

The complaint that was filed against the JFK plotters, Russell Defreitas, Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir, and Abdul Nur, provides some interesting insight into the operational planning of the operation and reveals what might have been a much larger, more dangerous, operation. On page 12 of the complaint, a conspirator referred to as “Individual A” told another conspirator, “Individual E,” that he, Defreitas and an undercover agent, referred to as “the Source” were working on two plans: “one to smuggle individuals, including mujahideen, from Asia into Guyana and then into the United States; and a second to attack the United States where it would inflict the most harm.” As it appears, Individual A’s first priority was to smuggle foreigners into the United States via Guyana, and not to perpetrate the JFK attacks. With the focus of our border protection agencies being fixed on the Mexican border, our homeland’s borders, notably the Florida keys, are significantly more pourous. Additionally, “Amir” Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad, became involved with the JFK plot when Defreitas and the Source traveled to Trinidad to seek assistance. Kareem insisted that he present the plans to his “contacts overseas who may be interested in purchasing or funding it.”

Tammy Bruce:  'One of the more fascinating aspects of this plot is the fact that one of the terrorists was nabbed in Trinidad as he was hopping a plan to Venezuela for a visa to go to Iran. This information from his own wife.'

Debka : 

FBI charges four suspects in Caribbean-tied Muslim terrorist plot to blow up New York’s JFK’s fuel terminal. 

One, a Guyana-born Muslim airport worker, Russell Defreitas, a US citizen, was detained in New York, two in Trinidad to be extradited to the US Wednesday, and one is at large in Guyana. The target covered 40 miles of underground fuel lines running through several residential districts of New York. US district attorney Rosslynn Mauskopf said the devastation would have been unthinkable. The plot was aborted by US and foreign law enforcement authorities at its early stages. The plotters had not acquired the equipment to carry it out. She said US law enforcement agencies proved they were capable of penetrating a secret group. No mention was made of al Qaeda only “radicalized Muslims.” Indictments were filed Saturday.

Defreitas told the FBI the attack would have destroyed the whole of Kennedy international airport and part of Queens and gained the blessing of the whole Muslim world. “Even the Twin Towers can’t touch it,” he said.

The two men arrested in Trinidad, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, are both Muslims. Defreitas was arrested after unknowingly recruiting an FBI informant. Kadir, a former Guyanan member of parliament, was picked up trying to obtain funds for terrorist operations.

Fox News:

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. 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 Queens, where the line runs underground.

 

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put "the whole country in mourning."

The Corner links to the complaint.  The names of the suspects in the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport terrorist plot are:  Russell Defreitas (aka Mohammed), Kareem Ibrahim (aka Amir Kareem), Abdul Kadir, and Abdel Nur.  Persons who had bets on the theory that at least one of the alleged plotters is named Mohammed will be grateful to Mr. Defreitas.

Arutz Sheva:

The FBI has arrested three Muslims, and a fourth was being sought, for planning a major terrorist attack at JFK International Airport in New York. The terrorists were planning to sabotage a gas line that runs from a plant in Linden, New Jersey, directly to the airport, either blowing it up or otherwise using the gas to explode buildings in the airport. The line is the main jet fuel supply feeding the airport. “The damage that would have been caused would have been unthinkable,” a Justice Department official said.

The suspects were Muslim immigrants to Guyana and the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

Update from In From the Cold:

Press conference in New York is finally underway; video available on tape delay, due to technical issues at the site. Amid the congratulations from law enforcement and prosecutors, we're learning more about the plot. Indications that Defreitas may have been planning to leave the country, prompting the FBI to arrest him, and spring the trap on other suspects in Trinidad. Additionally, "reading between the lines" of various comments, it sounds like Defreitas and the former Guyanan official may have been facilitators. U.S. attorney talked about the "support" the former official could provide. That suggests that this cell may have been paving the way for the attack, perhaps by operatives from the Middle East. They would enter the U.S. with phony papers from Guyana (procured by that former official), while Defreitas provided the intelligence and surveillance required for the plot.

CTB:

Jamaat-al-Muslimeen (JAM) is a Trinidad & Tobago homegrown political/Muslim organization that was involved in a bloody (by Caribbean standards) coup attempt in 1990 that resulted in the death of 19 people. The leader, Abu Bakr, is still in T&T and is somewhat of a hot potato politically. He is known to spew some wild allegations and poses more of a threat to T&T via kidnappings and robberies than terrorist acts. He once claimed to have a nuclear device on the north end of T&T. Bakr (whose real name escapes me now) still appears in T&T news trying to enter the political arena. He has been linked to several deaths and kidnappings of former JAM members, some of whom have split from JAM and formed a spin off movement against Abu Bakr.

Many JAM members fled to Brooklyn in 1990 and started their own narcotics organizations when the coup failed. Obviously their adherence to Islam did not outweigh their greed. I always thought they were more of a gang then a dedicated extremist organization. Despite what maybe stated in today's news, they do not have obvious direct links to al-Qeada. The only link maybe Adnan El-Shukri-Jumah, al-Qaeda's operative who had distinct links to T&T and Guyana and may have been assisted by JAM members.

Guyana and Haiti have a significant extremist element with a particular Haitian Muslim having links to an Iranian backed cleric linked to the Tri-border area in South America.

JAM is not al-Qaeda, but should be watched closely, which the NY-JTTF does.