AN ENCORE PERFORMANCE FOILED

NEW YORK - Federal authorities say they foiled an alleged plot by a retired airport worker, a former Guyanese Parliament member and other Muslim extremists to plant explosives on jet fuel arteries at John F. Kennedy International Airport, triggering massive casualties and economic havoc. Three men were arrested and a fourth sought in Trinidad for reportedly hatching the brazen scheme that they boasted would be worse than 9/11 and put "the whole country in mourning," authorities said.

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 New York’s borough of Queens, where the line runs underground. One of the suspects, Russell Defreitas, a U.S. citizen native to Guyana and former JFK air cargo employee, said the airport named for the slain president was targeted because it is a symbol that would put “the whole country in mourning.”
“It’s like you can kill the man twice,” said Defreitas, 63, who first hatched his plan more than a decade ago when he worked as a cargo handler for a service company, according to the indictment. Authorities said the men were motivated by hatred toward the U.S., Israel and the West. Defreitas was recorded saying he “wanted to do something to get those bastards” and he boasted that he had been taught to make bombs in Guyana.

Authorities had been monitoring the activities of these people through the use of a convicted drug dealer turned FBI informant. The U.S. Joint Terrorism Task Force recorded and surveilled the men, learning that Defreitas drove around and videotaped JFK on four occasions this past January. The U.S. threat level is unchanged at high, or orange, for all domestic and international flights, according to the department of Homeland Security.