American and Guyanese citizens convicted of conspiracy in a JFK Airport terror plot


Following a 6-week jury trial in the Eastern District of New York, a 67-year old naturalized American citizen Russell Defreitas (aka “Mohammed”) and a 58-year old Guyanese citizen Abdul Kadir (aka “Aubrey Michael Seaforth”) were convicted of conspiring to attack the John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in Queens, New York. Defreitas and Kadir have conspired to explode fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport with the intent to cause extensive damage to the airport and to the New York economy, as well as the loss of numerous lives. Both co-conspirators are facing possible life imprisonment. Sentencing is currently scheduled for December 15, 2010.

This terror plot was thwarted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in New York. Evidence presented at the trial has shown that Defreitas, a naturalized United States citizen from Guyana, previously worked as a cargo handler at the airport. He came up with the idea to cause an explosion at the JFK. During his multiple trips to Guyana and Trinidad in 2006, Defreitas recruited Abdul Kadir (a one-time member of the Parliament in Guyana) and a 60-year old Abdel Nur (also known as “Compton Eversley”) to join the conspiracy.

Defreitas traveled unnoticed, apparently exploiting Department of Homeland Security’s shortcomings in the processing of certain applicants for admission from Special Interest Countries (SIC). For example, on 4th of July, 2004, 23 persons from Special Interest Countries (SIC) entered the United States via the San Ysidro Port Of Entry (SYS POE), without being enrolled in the NSEERS. As of 2010, they remain unaccounted for and there has been no investigation into their whereabouts. DHS officials attempted to justify this security failure by stating that NSEERS enrollment was “discretionary” and applied only to non-immigrants. This deeply flawed approach fails to take into account the fact that numerous green card holders and naturalized US citizens have been involved in terror conspiracies.

Special Registration Procedures

Between his many trips abroad, Russell Defreitas engaged in video surveillance of the JFK Airport. He transported the footage back to Guyana to review it with his co-conspirators. During the trial, Kadir complained of the amateur quality of the video shot by Defreitas and admitted suggesting that the group use Google Earth to get better images of the airport.

According to the evidence presented at trial, members of the terror conspiracy also attempted to enlist support from prominent international terrorist groups and leaders, as well as the government of Iran, including Abu Bakr, leader of the Trinidadian militant group Jamaat Al Muslimeen, and an Al Qaeda leader Adnan El Shukrijumah.

Defreitas reportedly recruited Kadir to join the plot because he was an engineer and had connections with militant groups in Iran and Venezuela. During the trial, Kadir admitted that he regularly passed information to Iranian authorities and believed himself bound to follow Islamic Fatwas from Iranian religious leaders. Kadir arrogantly took the stand, attempting to convince the jury that he was innocent. He claimed that his motive for participating in the terror plot was to get money from wealthy Muslims in New York to build a mosque in Guyana.

Prosecutors shocked the jury by showing them a photograph of Kadir, in which he was shirtless and armed with 5 handguns. Kadir tried to explain away the picture by stating that he was just having fun at Christmas.

During cross-examination, Kadir was forced to acknowledge his affiliation with Mohsen Rabbani and other Iranian diplomats. Rabbani operated in the 1980s and '90s under cover as a cultural attache at Tehran's embassies in South America. He is wanted by Interpol for masterminding the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.

Defreitas was arrested in New York on June 2, 2007. Kadir was arrested in Trinidad on his way to Iran, aboard a plane headed to Venezuela. Ibrahim and Nur were also arrested in Trinidad. Kadir, Ibrahim and Nur were subsequently extradited to the United States.

Defreitas reportedly planned to release a large number of rats at the airport to use them as a diversion. Government informant Steven Francis recorded Defreitas discussing his plans to distract security at the airport by creating chaos. After the public and airport security was to have been frightened by rats, the co-conspirators planned to detonate targeted areas of the JFK airport.

Defreitas and Kadir were convicted of the following crimes:
  1. Conspiracy to Attack a Public Transportation System, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2332f;
  2. Conspiracy to Destroy a Building by Fire or Explosive, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 844(n);
  3. Conspiracy to Attack Aircraft and Aircraft Materials, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 32;
  4. Conspiracy to Destroy International Airport Facilities, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 37; and
  5. Conspiracy to Attack a Mass Transportation Facility, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1992(a)(10).
Defreitas was also convicted of Surveillance of a Mass Transportation Facility, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1992(a)(8).

Abdel Nur pleaded guilty before trial and faces a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. A fourth member of the plot, Kareem Ibrahim, faces trial on the same charges as Defreitas and Kadir.

American and Guyanese Citizens Convicted of Conspiracy to Launch Attack at JFK Airport - Defendants Plotted to Explode Fuel Tanks at Airport

Read more stories by Julia Davis, Los Angeles Homeland Security Examiner

Julia Davis on Fox News as the National Security/Anti-Terrorism Expert

Julia Davis -- Red County Contributor

Los Angeles Homeland Security Examiner Julia Davis on Google Blog

Los Angeles Homeland Security Examiner Julia Davis on Facebook

Follow Los Angeles Homeland Security Examiner Julia Davis on Twitter

Popular posts from this blog

Russian media doctors up a Fathead commercial for anti-Western propaganda

Image
On November 28, 2014, Russian mainstream television channel Russia-1 aired a shocking video . The program claimed that by the first grade, Western children are forced to learn everything there is to know about sexual intercourse and are told to pick which gender they would like to be. Decrying the loss of traditional values in the Western society, the host proclaimed that Europe is obediently following the United States off the cliff. Russia-1 proceeded to show the video, purportedly depicting an American boy being led to his bedroom by his father. The astonished child is subsequently shown a newly-decorated wall above his bed, depicting cartoon images of naked adult males, posing on their own and during sexual activities. The host angrily exclaims: “Is it appropriate for a child’s bedroom to look this way?” The program’s guest commentator, Maria Mamikonyan of the Russian Parenthood Resistance movement, proceeded to add that Western societies are normalizing previously prohibit...
Read more

CHP officer forwards nude photos from DUI suspect's phone

Image
On October 23, 2014, Contra Costa, CA prosecutors have met, considering felony computer theft charges against 35-year-old California Highway Patrol (CHP) Officer Sean Harrington. The District Attorney Investigator has recommended that criminal charges be filed against Harrington, who is suspected of accessing nude photos of a DUI suspect and covertly sending them from her cellphone to his own. On Aug. 29, 2014, Harrington and a second CHP officer pulled over a 23-year-old San Ramon, CA woman for allegedly making an unsafe lane change. She reportedly showed signs of intoxication, failed field sobriety tests and was taken to County Jail. Investigators say that Harrington asked the woman for a password to her cellphone, in order to find contact information for the person she wanted to call from jail. After unlocking the phone, Officer Harrington looked through the photo folder, where he found explicit photos of the woman. He then forwarded six of those pictures to his own cellphone. The...
Read more

Department of Homeland Security allowed convicted terrorist to become US citizen

Image
On October 10, 2014, Rasmieh Yousef Odeh, 66, was convicted on immigration fraud charges for failing to disclose terrorism conviction to immigration officials. According to the indictment, Odeh was convicted in Israel for her role in the 1969 bombings of a supermarket and the British Consulate in Jerusalem. Those bombings were carried out on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ("PFLP"), a designated terrorist organization. Odeh and her co-conspirators placed multiple bombs at the British Consulate and in a supermarket. One of the bombs placed at the supermarket detonated, killing two people and injuring several others. A bomb placed at the British Consulate caused structural damage to the facility. Israeli military authorities sentenced Odeh to life imprisonment, but she was released after serving 10 years, as part of a prisoner exchange. After her release, Odeh returned to the West Bank. In 1995, Odeh immigrated to the United States, in spite of her...
Read more