NEW YORK – A United States federal judge yesterday sentenced to life in prison a Trinidadian man who was convicted of plotting to blow up fuel tanks at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York four years ago.
“No one can doubt the seriousness of this crime,” said Judge Dora L. Irizarry of US Federal District Court in Brooklyn, New York, who compared the bomb plot to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States as she handed down the maximum sentence to Kareem Ibrahim, 66.
Ibrahim was one of four men accused in 2007 in what US federal authorities said was a plot to cause a chain reaction along a pipeline that would damage vast areas of New York City.
Prosecutors presented evidence at trial that Ibrahim, an Imam and a Muslim leader in Trinidad, had provided operational support to the group plotting the attack.
Ibrahim was extradited from Trinidad and Tobago for the trial.
Prosecutors said crucial evidence came from a convicted drug dealer and paid informer who contributed financial and logistical support to the plotters and secretly recorded their conversations.
Two of the conspirators, Russell M. Defreitas, a Guyanese immigrant and former cargo handler at the airport who prosecutors said conceived the plan, and Abdul Kadir, a former member of the Guyana parliament, were convicted in 2010 and were also sentenced to life imprisonment.
Another Guyanese national, Abdel Nur, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Ibrahim waived his right to make a statement during yesterday’s sentencing hearing. When the sentence was announced, he remained calm as one of his relatives in the courtroom told him to stay strong.
Ibrahim’s lawyers said they planned to file an appeal on his behalf. (CMC)
