NYPD Anti-Terror Unit Had JFK Target In Its Sights
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Photo by Peter Foley/European Pressphoto Agency United States Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf, Eastern District of New York; NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly; District Attorney Richard A. Brown and Assistant F.B.I. Director Mark J. Mershon, after a news conference in Manhattan on Saturday.

The oil pipeline flowing into Kennedy Airport, which was the target of a fiendish terrorist plot to set off a horrendous series of explosions in Queens and Brooklyn, had been under close surveillance by the New York Police Department anti terror task force for about a year after the task force was informed about the plan, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said last week.

Kelly said, "When we first learned of this plot, the NYPD's Counter Terrorism Division conducted a mile-by-mile survey of the pipeline.

That's also why NYPD helicopters and harbor launches, as part of their counter-terrorism mission, engaged in directed patrols of the pipeline, paying close attention to it, in addition to landmarks and other potential targets throughout the City of New York."

Kelly added: "We focus on terrorism every day in New York City because we have to. If we learned anything from this latest plot, it's that they keep coming back to New York."

Mayor Michael Bloomberg struck the same note in reacting to the plot planned by four terrorists. All have been arrested.

The mayor said the fact that the plot was planned against Kennedy Airport "is another reminder that in today's world we face constant threats from people who want to take away our freedoms and destroy our way of life.

"Working together, NYPD and other local and federal law enforcement agencies have been on top of this unfolding plot for months, and they deserve our thanks and praise."

Bloomberg emphasized: "The plot was only in its planning stages and at no point was anyone in imminent danger.

"New Yorkers should be comforted that the layers of safety provided by counterterrorism officials stopped these individuals before they could do any harm to our way of life."

The fourth and final man in the plot to blow up the oil tank farm at JFK was Abdel Nur, a Guyanese citizen who surrendered to police in Trinidad yesterday.

Already in custody was mastermind Russell Defreitas, from Brooklyn, a former cargo handler at JFK.

Being held in Trinidad are Abdul Kadir, an engineer who brought his expertise to the plot, and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad.

Troubled by the disclosure of the plot because it involved three Guyanese men, members of that group residing in Richmond Hill expressed anger at their countrymen.

Their feeling generally was that if the plotters didn't like America or Americans they should go back to their homeland.

Some members of the Richmond Hill group expressed fears that they and their children in local schools would be subjected to a backlash. However, no incidents have been reported.