FOUR ARRESTED IN PLOT TO BOMB FUEL LINES AT JFK AIRPORT

A plot to potentially destroy one of New York's leading airports has been thwarted:

NEW YORK (AP) - A suspected terrorist cell planned a "chilling" attack to destroy John F. Kennedy International Airport, kill thousands of people and trigger an economic catastrophe by blowing up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods, authorities said Saturday.

Three men were arrested and one was being sought in Trinidad on Saturday. In an indictment charging the four men, one of them is quoted as saying the foiled plot would "cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks," destroying the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of Queens, where the line runs underground.

One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK employee, said the airport was a symbol that would put "the whole country in mourning."

"It's like you can kill the man twice," Defreitas said, according to the indictment.

The plot never got past the planning stages. It posed no immediate threat to air safety or the public, the FBI said Saturday.

"The devastation that would be caused had this plot succeeded is just unthinkable," U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf said at a news conference, calling it "one of the most chilling plots imaginable."

Defreitas was in custody in Brooklyn and was expected to be arraigned Saturday afternoon.

Two other men, Abdul Kadir of Guyana and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, are in custody in Trinidad. A fourth man, Abdel Nur of Guyana, was still being sought in Trinidad.

They seem (unsurprisingly) to refrain here from giving any clear details of if Islamism played any role here. However, according to this article in the NY Times (via Hot Air), the plot

involved a former airport worker who is a United States citizen of Guyanese descent and a former member of the Guyanese parliament, who is also an imam.

Clue number one. And two others were connected with Jamaat al-Muslimeen, which is operating in Trinidad/Tobago.

It's very fortunate that these vile scum were arrested before they could even get underway with building bombs and gathering tools with which to ignite a fire at the airport. According to a broadcast I saw on CNN, the fuel line stretched through some neighborhoods in NYC, and it could've had VERY devastating consequences.