Former Linden Mayor, convicted terrorist, dies in US penitentiary

Former People’s National Congress (PNC) Member of Parliament Abdul Kadir, the former Mayor of Linden and a former convicted international terrorist, died in a penitentiary in the United States of America on Thursday morning.
A chemical engineer by training, Kadir had served as a Councillor for Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) in the Guyana National Assembly from 2001 to 2006.
At the time of his death, Kadir, in his 60s, was serving a sentence of life imprisonment, having been convicted for the 2007 John F Kennedy International Airport terror attack, which was said to be an Islamist extremist terrorist plot to blow up a system of jet fuel supply tanks and pipelines that feed fuel to John F Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in Queens, New York. Those pipelines travel underground in densely populated areas throughout New York City.
However, the alleged plot was foiled when an undercover law enforcement official was recruited to the homegrown terrorist cell. The main suspects in the terrorist plot were identified as Russell Defreitas, a Guyanese born naturialised United States citizen. He was employed at the JFK Airport at the time, and was suspected to be the alleged ring leader.
After the plot surfaced, Defreitas was allegedly clandestinely recorded telling an informant, “Anytime you hit Kennedy, it is the most hurtful thing to the United States. To hit John F Kennedy, wow – They love JFK – he’s like the man. If you hit that, the whole country will be in mourning. It’s like you can kill the man twice.”
Defreitas had also allegedly seen arms and missiles being shipped to Israel, and he felt that those would be used to harm Muslims. The men had allegedly named the plot “Chicken Farm”.
Reports back then indicated that there had been extensive surveillance of the targets, including by the use of satellite photographs, and attempts had been made to reach out to another Islamist terrorist group. However, no explosives had been bought.
According to a Newsday report on the terrorist plot, New York investigators were probing a possible Iran connection to the plot because Abdul Kadir had planned to visit that country. In Trinidad, Police reportedly investigated whether Kareem Ibrahim had ties to Iraq and Iran.
Despite Kadir having always maintained his innocence, US court documents revealed that he was the disciple of Mohsen Rabbani, an Iranian diplomat accused of being one of the masterminds behind the 1994 AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires.
However, Defreitas was arrested in Brooklyn, New York. Kadir and Ibrahim were arrested in Trinidad on June 3, 2007. Nur surrendered to Police two days later in Trinidad.
On June 25, 2008, Kareem Ibrahim, Abdel Nur and Abdul Kadir were extradited to the United States. They pleaded not guilty to charges of trying to “cause greater destruction than in the September 11 attacks”.
Russell Defreitas is being held after an earlier not guilty plea. On June 29, the four men were indicted on charges of conspiring to “cause death, serious bodily injury and extensive destruction” at the airport; and on August 6, a Judge ordered three of the alleged plotters extradited to the United States.
On August 2, 2010, Kadir and Defreitas were convicted in the JFK Airport bomb plot; while, in 2011, Ibrahim was found guilty of the crime, and in February 2012, Ibrahim was sentenced to life in prison.
In August, 2017, the Guyana Government seized assets belonging to the two Guyanese accused of terrorism activities in the United States of America.
The move on the part of the Administration was made utilising the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Laws, and the order was effected by Minister within the Finance Ministry, Jaipaul Sharma.
Kadir, the former PNC Parliamentarian, was also found guilty, along with Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago, and Abdel Nur, another Guyanese and uncle of late former world welterweight boxing champion Andrew “Six Head” Lewis.
Family members of the convicted terrorist reportedly learnt of his demise on Thursday morning. It was disclosed that the former MP had been ill for some time, and relatives had been informed of his condition.
Reports are that he was rushed to a medical facility, where he succumbed to his aliments. Kadir was said to have had nine children and more than 15 grandchildren.