NEW YORK, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A Trinidad imam was sentenced to life in prison for conspiring to blow up fuel tanks and fuel pipelines under New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Kareem Ibrahim, 65, and three others -- who already have been sentenced -- believed the planned 2007 attack would kill many people and heavily damage JFK Airport while hurting the New York economy, CNN reported.
A federal jury in May convicted Ibrahim, who had been a leader of the Shiite Muslim community in Trinidad and Tobago, on multiple terrorism offenses after a four-week trial.
Authorities said Russell Defreitas, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Guyana who used to work at JFK as a cargo handler, planned the attack, then recruited others.
The U.S. Justice Department said Defreitas gave Ibrahim video surveillance and satellite imagery of the targets in May 2007 because Ibrahim had connections to militant leaders in Iran.
At trial, the Justice Department said, Ibrahim admitted he advised plotters to share the JFK bombing plan with revolutionary leaders in Iran and to use operatives prepared to mount suicide attacks at the airport.
Ibrahim was arrested with two others in Trinidad in June 2007 and extradited to the United States.
He was convicted of conspiracy to attack a public transportation system, conspiracy to destroy a building by fire or explosive, conspiracy to attack aircraft and aircraft materials, conspiracy to destroy international airport facilities and conspiracy to attack a mass transportation facility.
