JFK terror plot probe

Georgetown businessman being sought

A Guyanese businessman whose office was allegedly used as a meeting room by the JFK airport terror plot suspects is being sought by the police and agents of the US Federal Bureau of investigation, informed sources have reported.

The Stabroek News newspaper says it understands that the man, who has an office on Avenue of the Republic, had meetings with the FBI informant as well as the other alleged players in the plot to blow up fuel tanks that feed the JFK Airport in New York.

The newspaper says it was told that several weeks ago, police had made checks at the man's office, but he could not be located. Reports are that the man might have fled into the interior where he operates a business.

One week after the arrests of former PNCR member of parliament Abdul Kadir and Trinidadian Kareem Ibrahim in Port of Spain, US agents had traveled to Georgetown where they met US Ambassador to Guyana David Robinson, President Bharrat Jagdeo and Acting Commissioner of Police Henry Greene. They also conducted an extensive search at Kadir's Watooka, Linden home where they seized a number of items and allegedly found a 7.62 round of ammunition. Two of Kadir's sons have since been charged with possession of the ammunition.

At least six other Guyanese might have been directly involved or had knowledge of the plot to blow up pipelines and fuel storage tanks at the airport, according to the US complaint. Court documents did not name these individuals, but authorities in Georgetown and the US knew who they were. Jagdeo had subsequently told a media conference that other Guyanese were being looked at.

In the US court document, the six persons are referred to as individuals A, B, C, E, F and G. Those individuals, the US government informant and Russell Defreitas who is said to be the mastermind of the plot met collectively and separately at other times in Guyana around mid August last year. Defreitas and the informant had stayed in Guyana for an extended period, according to the document. Individual E, who the document suggests is a businessman with an office in Georgetown, had told the informant during a conversation that he helped "brothers" who had a basic knowledge of Islam to perform Jihad (holy war). "He said that he takes care of the individuals basic needs while they are performing their jihad duties," the document stated. It is this individual 'E', according to reports, who the police have been trying to track down.

A man, who is familiar with the businessman, said he had seen some of the individuals charged with the plot meet the businessman at his Avenue of Republic location. The man said too that from all indications during those meetings recordings were made. Asked whether he had seen the businessman since the allegations were made known, the man said yes, but that he had looked somewhat troubled at the time.

Since then the man has not been seen. Stabroek News made checks at his Avenue of Republic location but he was not there.

Ex-Linden mayor Kadir, Ibrahim, Defreitas and Guyanese Abdel Nur have been charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against the United States. They have all appeared in court and have been remanded to prison. Kadir, Nur and Ibrahim were arrested in Port of Spain and are awaiting extradition proceedings, which would determine if they should be flown to New York to face trial. Defreitas was captured in New York and is being tried there. Lawyers for Kadir, Ibrahim and Nur had made formal applications for the men's release but this was denied by Chief Magistrate of Trinidad and Tobago, Sherman Mc Nicholls. Ibrahim, 61, was an accounts clerk at the Tunapuna Piarco Regional Corporation and also an officer of the National Alliance for Reconstruction, a political party in Port of Spain. Kadir, a civil engineer by profession, is also a Justice of the Peace. The men's lawyers had told the court that they had invested their lives in their respective communities, but the US said that good character means nothing, noting that the men could be "sleeping agents". The US government said it had tapes of Kadir, Defreitas and an informant, recruited by the FBI in numerous conversations. The men are facing five charges: conspiracy to bomb, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment; conspiracy to bomb a public transportation system; conspiracy to destroy a building by fire; conspiracy to bomb an aircraft and conspiracy to bomb a mass transportation facility. The US also alleged that Kadir has ties to militants abroad and that he volunteered to finance trips of the other accused to the US and was the one who discussed meeting and involving the Jamaat al Muslimeen in Trinidad to get financing and operational help. (Stabroek News)