Terror Plot Suspect Linked to Radicals

Guyanese Abdel Nur is escorted by Trinidad police officers to the Magistrate's Court in Port-of-Spain, Tuesday, June 5, 2007. Nur, the fourth suspect in an alleged plot to bomb a fuel pipeline feeding New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, turned himself in at a police station outside the Trinidadian capital. (AP Photo/Andres Leighton) (Andres Leighton - AP)

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad -- A Trinidadian suspect in an alleged plot to ignite a fuel pipeline feeding New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport once belonged to a radical Islamist group here, a spokesman for the group said.

Kala Aki Bua said Wednesday that 56-year-old Kareem Ibrahim cut his ties to Jamaat al Muslimeen in the late 1970s. He repeated the group's denial of any connection to the suspects who allegedly traveled to Trinidad and Tobago to seek the group's blessing and support.

In an interview inside the group's gated compound, Aki Bua said Jamaat al Muslimeen lacks the resources to even consider aiding an international plot as described by American officials. He held a news conference earlier Wednesday to refute any suggestion it was involved.

"Finance a project like that? Let's get serious. We may as well believe in Santa Claus," Aki Bua told The Associated Press.

Ibrahim, who was arrested Friday in a town outside Port-of-Spain, has not had any association with Jamaat al Muslimeen since he converted to Shia Islam in the 1970s, Aki Bua said. Most of the group's members are black converts to Sunni Islam.

Two other suspects are also in custody in Trinidad _ Abdul Kadir, a former Guyanese lawmaker arrested Friday, and Abdel Nur, a Guyanese national who surrendered Tuesday. All three face a bail hearing Monday.

The fourth suspect and alleged mastermind, Russell Defreitas, is a former JFK air cargo employee who was arrested in New York. He is a U.S. citizen native to Guyana, a former Dutch and British colony on the northern coast of South America.

U.S. authorities claim the alleged plotters made contacts with Jamaat al Muslimeen, which tried to overthrow the government here in 1990, storming Parliament in rebellion that left 24 dead. The men did not receive any commitment, according to court documents.

But according to the documents, Nur said he met in May with the group's leader, Yasin Abu Bakr, at his compound and the Islamic leader suggested that he return later with others involved "to discuss the plan in detail."

Abu Bakr told the AP this week that his group has no connection to the suspects.

"I know nothing about these men, and I have nothing to do with whatever they are being charged for," he said.