Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Two convicted of New York airport bomb plot

Updated at 10:01 am on 3 August 2010

A United States court has found two men guilty of plotting to bomb New York's JFK Airport.

Russell Defreitas, 67, and Abdul Kadir, 58, conspired to cause a huge explosion by igniting fuel tanks and pipelines at the airport, in the borough of Queens, in 2007.

Prosecutors had said Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir planned to cause a huge explosion by igniting the fuel depot and underground pipelines in 2007.

Kadir, a former member of Guyana's parliament, was charged with arranging financing for the plot.

Defreitas, a US citizen born in Guyana, was a former cargo handler at the airport.

The defence argued that they had been led astray by a police informant, the BBC reports, but prosecutors said the pair had sought the help of militant Islamists, including an al-Qaeda operative, for a plan intended to kill thousands of people.

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