JFK Terror Plotters Extradited From Trinidad UPDATE: Plead Not Guilty

The three JFK terror plotters who were in Trinidad have been extradited to the United States to stand trial. They will be arraigned this afternoon in US District Court in Brooklyn.

The men, Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur, were charged in the summer of 2007 by the United States attorney in Brooklyn of conspiring with a former airport cargo worker, Russell M. Defreitas, to attack fuel storage tanks and fuel lines at Kennedy.

Mr. Defreitas has been detained without bail awaiting trial since his arrest in Brooklyn on June 1, 2007.

Mr. Kadir and Mr. Ibrahim were arrested in Trinidad on June 3, 2007. Mr. Nur surrendered to the police there two days later. On June 29, 2007, the four men were indicted on charges with conspiring to “cause death, serious bodily injury and extensive destruction” at the airport.

Prior coverage can be found here.

UPDATE:
The three have entered not guilty pleas in federal court.

Trinidadian suspect Kareem Ibrahim, a Muslim cleric, has been hospitalized since April after apparently suffering a mental breakdown. His lawyer said Ibrahim is in no shape to be extradited, and he plans to file another appeal.

Lawyers for the other two suspects, Abdel Nur and Abdul Kadir, both from Guyana, were not available for comment.

The three men entered not guilty pleas in federal court Wednesday afternoon.

The judge ordered them held without bail on a "permanent detention order." They are due back in court at noon on Aug. 7.

The three are each charged with five counts of conspiracy, punishable by up to life in prison, for the alleged plot to blow up fuel tanks and the underground fuel lines at JFK and extending into Brooklyn and Queens.