Three Held, One Sought for Bomb Plot at Jfk Airport

Anti-terrorism agents who foiled a plot to blow up giant fuel tanks at New York's JFK airport arrested three men yesterday and were searching for a fourth, all described as 'al-Qaeda wannabes'.

One man is in custody in the US; two other suspects are being held in Trinidad while police scour the country for another. The two men held in the West Indies were named as Abdul Kadir, 55, a Guyanese Muslim and former member of Guyana's parliament, and Kareem Ibrahim, 56, a Trinidadian.

Another suspect, Russell Defreitas - a US citizen originally from Guyana and a former cargo worker at JFK - is in custody in Brooklyn. The final suspect, Abdel Nur, also Guyanese, was being sought in Trinidad, US authorities said.

Federal officials tracked the suspected terrorist cell for nine months as they made plans to plant explosives around main fuel lines and tanks to cripple operations at the international airport.

'Americans love Kennedy and if we hit the airport this whole country would be in mourning, like he was killed twice,' one of the alleged plotters reportedly said in conversations overheard during surveillance.

'Even the Twin Towers cannot touch JFK; this can destroy the economy of America,' another is believed to have said.

There was no specific intention to target flights or passengers, officials said, though deaths and extensive damage would have been likely in an explosion involving millions of gallons of jet fuel. The principal aim of the plot was apparently to shut down the busy airport and raise new fears about flying into the US. The plot was in its earliest stages and the suspects had not yet bought explosives, but were described as 'determined' by the FBI.

'The devastation that would have been caused is just unthinkable,' said US attorney Roslynn Mauskopf.