Authorities say theyve had an informant in on a plot to blow up John F. Kennedy Airport for 18 months and the plan was far from mature. Three arrests have been made and a fourth alleged conspirator is on the run after police and the FBI apparently determined theyd gotten far enough with their plans to set explosives in the huge fuel tank farm at the airport. U.S. Attorney Rosslyn K. Mauskopf said the attack would have caused unfathomable damage, death and destruction, but unnamed sources in various media outlets indicated the plan was an amateurish operation by al Quaeda wannabes that had little chance of success. The plotters were also hoping to take out a 40-mile fuel pipeline that runs through New York. The alleged kingpin was Russell Defreitas, a Guyanese national who worked at JFK as a cargo handler. Hes now retired but allegedly used his knowledge of the layout and procedures at the airport to hatch the plan. He was arrested Saturday in New York. Two alleged accomplices, Abdul Kadir, a former member of the Guayanese parliament MP and a former local mayor who is also reportedly an imam, and Kareem Ibrahim, from Trinidad, are in custody in Trinidad. Abdel Nur, of Guyana, is still at large and believed to be in Trinidad. Secretly recorded conversations indicate the plotters thought JFK would be a symbolic, as well as economic, target. “Any time you hit Kennedy it is the most hurtful thing to the United States, Defreitas is quoted as saying on the recording. “To hit John F. Kennedy, wow, [Americans] love John F. Kennedy like he’s the man. If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. It’s like you can kill the man twice.”
