FBI Bust Terror Plot Targeting JFK International Airport
Posted June 2, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The FBI has uncovered an alleged plot to blow up a fuel line leading into John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Three people were arrested Saturday and authorities are hunting for a fourth suspect. The plot, which never got past the planning stages, didn’t involve airplanes or passenger terminals, according to officials.
The targeted pipeline takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport and runs through residential areas. A law enforcement official said the suspects include a Guyanese man who used to work at the airport and was arrested in NYC on Friday night. Two other suspects were apprehended in Trinidad, which is where authorities believe the fourth person sought is hiding.
It appears that investigators first found out about the plot back in January 2006. After that, an informant infiltrated the group. “This was the ultimate hand-and-glove operation between NYPD and FBI,” said U.S. Representative Peter King.
The arrests mark the latest in a series of alleged homegrown terrorism plots targeting high-profile American landmarks. A year ago, seven men were arrested in what officials called the early stages of a plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and destroy FBI offices and other buildings. A month later, authorities broke up a plot to bomb underwater New York City train tunnels to flood lower Manhattan. And six people were arrested a month ago in an alleged plot to unleash a bloody rampage on Fort Dix in New Jersey.
