From the Los Angeles Times

3 extradited to U.S. in alleged JFK Airport explosives plot

The men arrive from Trinidad to face terrorism charges. Prosecutors say they sought support from Islamic militants and Iran.

By Josh Meyer
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

June 26, 2008

WASHINGTON — Three Caribbean men were extradited to the United States this morning on terrorism charges stemming from an alleged plot last year to blow up fuel lines and tanks at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, U.S. and Trinidad officials said.

A Trinidad and Tobago judge had ordered Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur extradited in February, and an appellate court rejected their appeal earlier this week, according to the Justice Department. The three men arrived in New York early this morning. All were arraigned, pleaded not guilty, and were ordered held on permanent orders of detention by Magistrate Judge Cheryl Pollak .The next scheduled hearing is Aug. 7 in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn

The men had been jailed in Trinidad and Tobago for much of the past year on charges of conspiring with a fourth defendant, Russell Defreitas.

Defense attorneys have sought to portray New York-based Defreitas as a bumbling malcontent, and say a confidential FBI informant angling for leniency on legal problems trapped him and the others into participating in the alleged plot. The prosecution describes him as the ringleader.

Defreitas, a retired JFK cargo worker and an American citizen, has pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in New York.

But federal authorities in New York and Washington say the men not only plotted the attacks but also carried out some physical actions toward actually detonating explosives at the airport, which is one of the nation's busiest.

Some U.S. law enforcement officials have conceded privately that Defreitas was not capable of mounting the kind of attack that could do serious damage to the airport and its well-protected web of pipelines and tanks. Authorities have not alleged, for instance, that Defreitas had explosives, money or an executable plan.

But they said that one of the most alarming aspects of the case was that he was able to link up with the three men from the Caribbean in order to further the plot. Some of the men's conversations -- and alleged plotting -- were secretly taped by an undercover FBI informant, according to court documents filed in the case.

"The defendants are charged with serious violations," said Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Justice Department's National Security Division in Washington, which is supporting the prosecution of the case. "Obviously, we're pleased that they are here now to face prosecution on the charges against them."

The transfer of the three men is one of several recent successful extraditions for the Justice Department, which had suffered numerous legal frustrations in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Colombia just extradited 14 members of the right-wing paramilitary group known as the AUC. Monzer Al Kassar, an accused international arms dealer, was extradited from Spain on terrorism charges earlier this month, and three other accused terrorists were extradited from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Britain last year.

But many other terrorist extraditions have been hung up in court, often for many years, and at times they have been opposed by allies that won't go along with U.S. efforts to put terrorists to death.

Boyd said each extradition depends on the law of the country involved, and that many nations granted suspected terrorists extensive rights of appeal that have to be fully exhausted before they can be extradited. Some other countries don't have extradition treaties with the United States.

Ibrahim is from Trinidad. Nur and Kadir are from Guyana All three men have maintained their innocence.

Kadir, a former opposition member of Guyana's parliament, is portrayed in the complaint as a key figure, helping to pay for Defreitas' trips to the Caribbean to allegedly discuss the plot and making efforts to enlist financial and logistical support for it from Jamaat al Muslimeen, an Islamic militant group in Trinidad.

In court documents, federal authorities allege that the men also discussed seeking funding for the plot from Iran.

"We can try to send someone to Iran to get the movement, the revolutionary movement, and they can discuss that plan there," Ibrahim, a Muslim cleric, was quoted as saying in a 28-page confidential court document signed by Assistant U.S. Atty. Marshall C. Miller.

In another conversation, Ibrahim said he had recruited an associate, described as "individual F," who would "travel to Iran and present the plot to militants there," according to the court filing.

Kadir was arrested last June as he boarded a flight from Trinidad to Venezuela with plans to travel to Iran. His wife told reporters at the time that he intended to attend a religious conference.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, said the prosecutors' office could not comment further on the case or discuss what specifically ties the three Caribbean men to the alleged plot.

"We are going to do our speaking in court," said Nardoza. "The indictment speaks for itself. They are facing life in prison."

Federal public defenders for the three men could not be reached immediately for comment.