Abu Bakr's named called in JFK terror trial

Trinidad and Tobo's Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr's has denied any knowledge of a failed terrorist plot at the JFK airport in New York.

American media reports this week said Bakr's name was mentioned in the trial of four suspects who are accused of trying to blow up fuel tanks at the airport and cause chaos and extensive damage.

Trinidad and Tobago citizen Kareem Ibrahim is one of the accused. Ibrahim has been granted a separate trial owing to a medical condition.

The other defendants are Russell Defreitas, a former cargo worker at the airport, and Abdul Kadir a former People's National Congress member of parliament in Guyana, who are both charged with hatching the plot in January 2006.

A fourth accused, Guyanese Abdel Nur, pleaded guilty to one count of providing support to terrorists and faces up to 15 years in prison.

The four had allegedly circulated their plan to an international network of Muslim extremists and the informant testiofied that big money was involved in the plot.

The witness played a recording of a meeting in Trinidad in May 2007 in which Ibrahim is allegedly heard saying: "I know this worth big money...I think most likely we should bargain for a million."

The informant, Steven Francis, said the plotters discussed a "buyer" who was going to be a "person or entity who's going to support financially the JKF plot."

According to the evidence presented in court, Kadir reportedly suggested that the plotters could use his bank account to deposit the money and then transfer it "to the mosque account."

Prosecutors told the court Defreitas, Abdul Nur and Francis flew from Guyana to Trinidad in May 2007 to seek financial and other support from Yasin Abu Bakr, head of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, which staged a coup attempt in Trinidad in 1990.

The government informant testified Nur had already told Bakr about the plot.

The U.S. Media reported that the plotters became concerned that Bakr might turn them in to curry favour with the Trinidad and Tobago Government.

Read related news feature: Feature: Trinidad’s Troubling Islamist Yasin Abu Bakr
Also read: Reader fingers Muslimeen in quarry operations. Reprinted from the Trinidad Guardian