Sat Jun 2, 2007 1:20 PM EDT
By Chris Michaud
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Four people, including a former member of Guyana's parliament, have been arrested in connection with a plot against ground operations at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, U.S. officials said on Saturday.
Another one of the suspects was a former airport cargo worker at the airport. The four were charged with conspiring to attack the airport by planting explosives to blow up the airport's major jet fuel tanks and pipeline, the U.S. Justice Department said.
The plot was foiled well before it came to fruition and the FBI said there was no threat to the public from the plot.
"There is no threat to air safety or the public related to this plot," FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said in Washington.
In their statement in New York, authorities said the plot dated from January 2006 to the present.
The four defendants were identified as Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen and native of Guyana who was arrested in Brooklyn. Authorities said Defreitas was the former airport employee.
They said two suspects were in custody in Trinidad and Tobago, and identified those two as Abdul Kadir, a citizen of Guyana and former member of its parliament, and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago.
The fourth was named as Abdel Nur, described as a citizen of Guyana. They provided no other immediate information on Nur.
The plot tapped into an international network of Muslim extremists from the United States, Guyana and Trinidad, the statement said.
The law enforcement authorities said the investigation was helped by an informant, who recorded conversations with the suspects.
Four arrested in plot on JFK airport
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