Guyanese terror plot was payback for Palestinians -Prosecution Witness
Abdul Kadir & Russell DeFreitas
GEROGETOWN/ NEW YORK -A key prosecution witness in the Guyanese John F. Kennedy International Airport terror plot says the two accused wanted payback for the United States sending weapons to Israel to kill Palestinians.
Witness Donald Nero, a guyanese, said he had been involved with defendants Russell DeFreitas and Abdul Kadir in the initial states of the planning the attack.
He told the court that in those meetings, DeFreitas and others conspired to bomb jet-fuel supply tanks and gas pipelines at JFK.
Newo, who said he participated in several meetings in Guyana in late 2006, noted that the accused sought to inflict “economical damage, destruction of airport property and loss of life.”
He asserted that DeFreitas told those gathered at the meetings that he personally loaded US “bombs, missiles and planes” bound for Israel while working at JFK.
He said the men planned a blast that would “blow though the airport and through to Queens.”
DeFreitas and Kadir were charged in 2007 with conspiracy to attach a public transportation system; conspiracy to destroy a building with fire and explosives; conspiracy to attach aircraft and aircraft materials; conspiracy to destroy an international airport and conspiracy to attach a mass transportation facility.
Kadir was also charged with surveillance of a transportation facility. Two other men were also arrested in the plot. Kareem Ibrahim, of Trinidad and Tobago, was deemed too ill and may face trial at a later date. Guyanese Abdel Nur, 60, pleaded guilty on Tuesday last to a separate charge of material support to terrorism and faces up to 15 years in prison. His sentencing is set for November. If convicted, DeFreitas and Kadir face life in prison.
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