Updated: Kadir, DeFreitas found guilty in JFK plot case

Artist’s depiction of Russell DeFreitas

NEW YORK, (Reuters) – Two Islamist militants were  found guilty today by a federal jury of plotting to bomb  New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Russell Defreitas, 67, a U.S. citizen born in Guyana, and  Abdul Kadir, 58, of Guyana, conspired to blow up buildings,  fuel tanks and pipelines at the airport in the New York City  borough of Queens.

Abdul Kadir
Abdul Kadir

The men, who were arrested in June 2007, face up to life in  prison. They are due to be sentenced on Dec. 15.
Defreitas, who had worked at the airport, provided  knowledge of its facilities and layout, U.S. prosecutors said,  while Kadir, an engineer, helped with technical aspects such as  how to blow up the buried fuel pipelines.
“The foiled plot to bomb the JFK Airport fuel tanks and the  fuel line that supplied them was a serious threat,” New York  Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a statement. “Terrorists  intent on targeting New York were stopped in their tracks.”
Defense attorneys for the men portrayed them as all bluster  and no substance during the trial in federal court in Brooklyn.  Prosecutors said Defreitas and Kadir did more than just talk  and “took concrete steps to make this plan a reality.”
But officials have said the plot was nowhere near being  operational when the men were arrested.
This was the first case involving a plot against New York  to go before a local jury since 2006.
“The defendants intended to send a message by killing  Americans and destroying the New York City economy,” U.S.  Attorney Loretta Lynch said in a statement.
During the four-week trial before U.S. District Judge Dora  Irizarry, jurors heard testimony and watched video clips of the  airport filmed by Defreitas, and listened to audio recordings  of the men made by a government informant.
The men sought to offer their plans to Jamaat Al Muslimeen,  an Islamist extremist group in Trinidad and Tobago that was  behind a 1990 coup attempt on the island, prosecutors said, and  also tried to send Kadir to Iran to muster support.

Artist's depiction of Russell DeFreitas
Artist's depiction of Russell DeFreitas

Kadir, arrested on board a flight to Iran via Venezuela,  said he was on his way to a religious pilgrimage and was not  doing anything related to the plot.
The defense lawyers expressed disappointment in the  verdict. Kadir was an “exemplary citizen of Guyana,” his lawyer  Kafahni Nkrumah said.
“We believe there’s more than just the evidence that Kadir  was up against, the atmosphere of fear in this country … the  fear of terrorism … especially in New York,” Nkrumah said.
Defreitas’ attorney, Mildred Whalen, said her client would  appeal the case after he was sentenced. She said U.S. law  enforcement officials had monitored the plotters in order to  net bigger fish such as accused Caribbean al Qaeda explosives  expert Adnan El-Shukrijumah.
“I can’t imagine Russell Defreitas was their goal,” she  said.
Two other men were arrested in the plot. Kareem Ibrahim of  Trinidad and Tobago was deemed too ill to be tried, but may  face trial later. Guyanese Abdel Nur, 60, pleaded guilty in  June to a separate charge of material support to terrorism and  faces up to 15 years in prison.