Imam sentenced to life in prison in JFK airport terror plot - CNN.com
By Jim Barnett, CNN
2012-01-14T00:24:56Z
CNN.com
Washington (CNN) -- An imam and leader of the Shiite Muslim community in
Trinidad and Tobago was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to attack a
New York airport by exploding fuel tanks and fuel pipelines under the airport,
the Justice Department said Friday.
Kareem Ibrahim and several other co-conspirators believed the 2007 planned
attack would cause extensive damage to John F. Kennedy International Airport
and to the New York economy, as well as kill many people, officials said.
Ibrahim, 65, was convicted in May by a federal jury on multiple terrorism
offenses after a four-week trial.
The plot originated in 2006 when Russell Defreitas, a naturalized U.S. citizen
from Guyana who used to work at JFK as a cargo handler, planned the attack and
then recruited others, according to officials. In May 2007, Defreitas gave
Ibrahim video surveillance and satellite imagery of the targets because Ibrahim
had connections to militant leaders in Iran, the Justice Department said.
During cross-examination at trial, Ibrahim admitted he advised the plotters to
present the attack plan to revolutionary leaders in Iran and to use operatives
ready to engage in suicide attacks at the airport, according to the Justice
Department. On one of the recorded conversations entered into evidence, Ibrahim
told Defreitas the attackers must be ready to "fight it out, kill who you could
kill and go back to Allah."
Ibrahim was arrested along with two others in Trinidad in June 2007 and later
extradited to the United States. He was convicted of conspiracy to attack a
public transportation system, conspiracy to destroy a building by fire or
explosive, conspiracy to attack aircraft and aircraft materials, conspiracy to
destroy international airport facilities, and conspiracy to attack a mass
transportation facility, the Justice Department said.
Defreitas was arrested in New York and convicted of terrorism charges in 2010
and sentenced to life in prison.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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