Jun 14, 2007 9:02 pm US/Eastern
Court Reveals Details On JFK Terror Plot Informant
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) ―
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Russell Defreitas, 63, is shown inside the Lindenwood Diner having dinner with a government informant, a man he believed would help plan an attack that would cripple Kennedy Airport and the surrounding neighborhoods.
CBS
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Terrorists wanted to blow up a jet fuel artery that runs through populous residential neighborhoods.
AP
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Russell "Mohammed" Defreitas (file)
CBS/Jane Rosenberg
New details emerged Thursday about the criminal record of the convicted drug trafficker who infiltrated a group of would-be terrorists and helped block a plot to bomb John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Authorities had already said in court papers for the JFK case that the informant was assisting them in the hopes of earning a reduced sentence for a 2003 conviction for trafficking. The Smoking Gun obtained the informant's court papers in the drug case and posted the documents Thursday, revealing previously unknown details of his criminal past.
Authorities confirmed his identity and the veracity of the papers posted on the site, but asked that his name not be made public out of concern for the safety of the informant and his family.
A court document posted site detailed the informant's most recent arrest, among other criminal exploits: A narcotics detective had caught the man with five kilograms of cocaine on him in November 2002, and investigators found another 44 kilograms of cocaine in a closet of a Bronx apartment connected to the man. The cocaine was said to be worth about $2 million.
He and his narcotics associates were also accused of conspiring to commit murder in hopes of enhancing their drug operation.
In addition, the JFK case was not the first time that the informant has helped investigators in exchange for a lighter punishment, according to the papers. After a 1996 conviction for racketeering and drug trafficking, the man provided "substantial assistance" to the government, court papers said, earning him a seven-year sentence when guidelines called for at least 27 years.
While it was not clear how much the informant's sentence would be reduced, his effectiveness as a mole was apparent.
Earlier this month, the informant helped federal investigators bust four men who are accused of participating in a Muslim terror cell that planned to blow up a jet-fuel artery that runs through Queens residential neighborhoods and feeds JFK.
Federal authorities said the informant was so convincing that the suspects gave him unfettered access to their operation, allowing him to gather evidence against the group.
Three of the men -- Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur—are now being held in Trinidad. A fourth, Russell Defreitas, who once worked as a cargo handler at JFK, is being held in the U.S.
The informant made several overseas trips to discuss the plot, even visiting a radical Muslim group's compound in Trinidad. The suspects were even convinced he was guided by a higher purpose, with the ringleader saying the informant "had been sent by Allah to be the one" to pull off the bombing, according to a federal complaint.
Huda Ibrahim, a daughter of the one Trinidadian suspect, denied that her father or Kadir had any role in the alleged airport plot. She said recently that they were set up by a U.S. government informant posing as an Islamic missionary.
"The source visited our brothers with the specific intent to entrap them in activities they know nothing about, never agreed to, and did not participate in," she said.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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