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Date to argue alleged confession postponed

Jan 24, 2010 News



Guyanese terrorist accused…

Initially set for Wednesday this week, the date for the Guyanese accused in the now infamous JFK terror plot to argue for the suppression of the evidence gathered by the United States prosecution, namely a confession statement, has been postponed to February 19.
On that date, it is very likely that the motion that the defendants filed to suppress that evidence could also be argued.
This was ordered by the Case Judge, Dora Lizette Irizarry, who recently sentenced self-confessed drug kingpin, Shaheed ‘Roger’ Khan.
Russell DeFreitas, the Guyana-born US resident, who has been implicated along with Abdel Nur, Kareem Ibrahim and Abdul Kadir, in a terror plot to blow up the JKK International Airport in the United States of America has reportedly confessed to being the mastermind.
However, his attorney, Mildred Whalen, with whom this newspaper had made contact, explained that the US government has to give the defense notice of any statements it plans to use at trial in advance of the trial at which point they get to make objections to the use of the statements at trial.
Judge Dora Irizarry decides if the statements can be admitted at the trial and if the statements are admitted at trial, it will be up to the jury to decide whether De Freitas actually made those statements, and, if he made them, whether they are in fact a confession.
When the reports of the confession surfaced, Whalen had explained that the US government had given her notice of “certain statements they allege De Freitas made,” namely his confession. But she has made a motion to suppress those statements to prevent them from being admitted at trial.
The US Government responded to that and the legal teams were set to appear before Judge Irizarry for oral argument, to answer any questions she may have about the motions.”
That oral argument was scheduled for January 27 but this has now been pushed back, further delaying the matter.
A US report stated that DeFreitas has confessed to being the mastermind behind the terror plot.
That report stated that when confronted with surveillance tying him to the plot, De Freitas said he was clamming up because, “I did not realise you had so much evidence,” according to an FBI summary report.
Russell DeFreitas, Kareem Ibrahim, Abdul Kadir and Abdel Nur are all charged in connection with a plot to conduct a terrorist attack at John F. Kennedy International Airport (“JFK Airport”) by, inter alia, exploding airport fuel tanks and part of the connecting pipeline.
The US Government is contending that in connection with the plot, the defendants performed physical surveillance, made video recordings of JFK Airport and its buildings and facilities, located satellite images of JFK Airport and its buildings and facilities on the internet, and sought expert advice, financing and explosives.
On or about June 1, 2007, warrants were issued in the Eastern District of New York for the arrests of Kadir, DeFreitas, Ibrahim and Nur.
DeFreitas was arrested in New York pursuant to an extradition treaty between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, the United States requested that the government of Trinidad and Tobago execute provisional arrest warrants against defendants Kadir, Ibrahim and Nur, all of whom were present in Trinidad and Tobago on June 1, 2007.
Trinidad law enforcement officials arrested Kadir on June 1, 2007, at Piarco International Airport in Trinidad, as he was attempting to travel through Venezuela to Iran.
On or about June 3 and June 10, 2007, Guyanese police obtained and executed two warrants to search Kadir’s residence in Linden, Guyana.
DeFreitas is a naturalised United States citizen, but was born in Guyana and maintained a residence there.
On June 6, 2007, Guyanese police conducted a search of DeFreitas’ Guyanese residence pursuant to a search warrant issued under the laws of Guyana.

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