Danger of airport plot in question

WASHINGTON – When U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf described the alleged terror plot to blow up John F. Kennedy International Airport as “one of the most chilling plots imaginable,” which might have caused “unthinkable” devastation, one law-enforcement official said he cringed.

The plot, he knew, was never operational. The public had never been at risk. And the notion of blowing up the airport, let alone the borough of Queens, by exploding a fuel tank was in all likelihood a technical impossibility.

And now, with a portrait emerging of alleged mastermind Russell Defreitas as hapless and episodically homeless, and of co-conspirator Abdel Nur as a drug addict, Mauskopf’s initial characterizations seem more questionable.

“I think her comments were over the top,” said Michael Greenberger, director of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland. “It was a totally overstated characterization that doesn’t comport with the facts.”

Greenberger said he has no argument with police pursuing and stopping the alleged plotters – only with the apocalyptic terms used to characterize the conspiracy.

“I think they were correct to take this seriously and to act to stop it,” he said. “People who are mentally unwell can still do a lot of damage. But there’s a pattern here of Justice Department attorneys overstating what they have. I think they feel under tremendous pressure to vindicate the elaborate counterterrorism structure they’ve created since 9/11, including the Patriot Act.”

Also Tuesday, Nur surrendered to police in Trinidad, a police official said. Nur, of Guyana, is the fourth man arrested the alleged plot.

U.S. authorities claim the alleged plotters unsuccessfully sought support in Trinidad from Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group.

In addition to Nur and Defreitas, Trinidadian authorities are holding Abdul Kadir, a former Guyanese lawmaker, and Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad. They are fighting extradition to the United States.