Guyana Imam gets life for NYC airport terror plot

WASHINGTON: A Guyana Imam was sentenced Friday to life imprisonment for his part in plotting a terror attack on a New York airport, officials said.

After a four-week trial, Kareem Ibrahim, 65, was found to have "provided religious instruction and operational support to a group plotting to commit a terrorist attack at JFK Airport," said Attorney Loretta Lynch in a statement.

Ibrahim had joined with conspirators to hatched a plot to explode fuel tanks and pipelines under John F Kennedy International Airport in 2007.

Former Guyana parliamentarian Abdul Kadir was sentenced to life in prison in 2010, while an Islamic militant from Guyana, Abdel Nur, was also given 15 years in prison for taking part in the plot, after he pleaded guilty to providing material support.

Russell Defreitas, a naturalized US citizen, was also last year sentenced in US federal court to life in prison for plotting the attack, which he had hoped "would rival 9/11."

Kadir and Defreitas began preparations in 2006 to blow up fuel tanks and the fuel pipeline under the airport, which is located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from Manhattan, officials said.

Defreitas was found to have initiated the plans, using his experience of airport fuel depots.

He recruited Kadir and others during multiple trips to Guyana and Trinidad, and took video surveillance of JFK airport to show Kadir back in Guyana, according to the Justice Department.

During Ibrahim's trial, officials said, the Imam "admitted that he advised the plotters to present the plot to revolutionary leaders in Iran and to use operatives ready to engage in suicide attacks at the airport."