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Terrorist
By Mike Mitchell |
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August 4, 2010 -
Following a six-week jury trial, Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir were
convicted in the Eastern District of New York of conspiring to attack
The defendants
believed their attack would cause extensive damage to the airport and to
the
The evidence at
trial established that Defreitas, a naturalized |
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Beginning in 2006,
Defreitas recruited others to join the plot, including Abdul Kadir and
Abdel Nur, during multiple trips to
Nur pleaded guilty
before trial to supporting the plot and faces a sentence of up to 15
years. A fourth member of the plot, Kareem Ibrahim, faces trial on the
same charges as Defreitas and Kadir.
According to the
trial evidence, the plot members also attempted to enlist support for
the plot from prominent international terrorist groups and leaders, as
well as the government of Iran, including Abu Bakr, leader of the
Trinidadian militant group Jamaat Al Muslimeen, and Adnan El Shukrijumah,
an al Qaeda leader.
In February 2007,
Defreitas recruited Kadir to join the plot because Kadir, a former
member of the Guyanese parliament, was an engineer and had connections
with militant groups in
During
cross-examination at trial, Kadir admitted that he regularly passed
information to Iranian authorities and believed himself bound to follow
fatwas from Iranian religious leaders Defreitas was arrested in |
The specific
charges Defreitas and Kadir were convicted of are 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. Defreitas was also convicted
of surveillance of a mass transportation facility.
?The defendants intended to send
a message by killing Americans and destroying the
United States
Attorney Lynch extended her grateful appreciation to the FBI Joint
Terrorism Task Force in
The government?s
case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Marshall L.
Miller, Jason A. Jones, Berit W. Berger, and Zainab Ahmad. |
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