By DPA
Washington : A Guyana native and three other men were charged Saturday in a plot to blow up New York's busy JFK Airport using fuel lines that could have exploded throughout the airport and surrounding Queens neighbourhood, justice officials said.
The alleged plot by Muslim extremists from the US, Guyana and Trinidad was under investigation for 18 months before the US Justice Department moved to arrest Russell Defreitas, a US citizen, Guyana native and former airport employee.
The other suspects are Abdul Kadir, a Guyana citizen who has served in the Guyanese parliament and Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad, who is in custody in Trinidad. A fourth defendant, Abdul Nur, is a citizen of Guyana who was still being sought, officials said.
The men were in contact with the senior leadership of the Muslim group Jamaat Al Muslimeen (JAM,) blamed for the 1990 coup attempt in Trinidad, a statement from the justice department said.
The attack had still been in its planning stages, and there was no threat to public safety, officials said.
"Had the plot been carried out, it could have resulted in unfathomable damage, deaths and destruction," said US attorney Mauskopf, who called it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable."
According to the criminal complaint, the men had conspired to destroy "buildings, fuel tanks and fuel pipelines" at the airport with explosives.
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that the jet fuel pipeline feeds through the airport and runs through residential neighbourhoods, New York 1 reported.
The 65 km line brings aviation fuel from a facility in Linden, New Jersey, through Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens to the airport.
"[The line] is indeed the feeding tube that nourishes national and international commerce at JKF and LaGuardia," said Kelly.
According to taped remarks recorded by an informant, Defreitas predicted that the attacks would destroy "the whole of Kennedy" and leave few survivors.
The attacks would be worse than the World Trade Centre attacks on September 11, 2001, he said: "Even the Twin Towers can't touch it… this can destroy the economy of America for some time."
"Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the US," he said. "If you hit that, this whole country will be in mourning. It's like you can kill the man twice."
Defreitas used his knowledge of the airport to video and identify targets and escape routes and assess airport security, according to a statement from the justice department.
John F Kennedy Airport is one of the busiest airports in the US.