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…as accused attempts to discredit witnessRussell De Freitas, one of the Guyanese implicated in the plot to blow up a fuel bunker at the John F Kennedy Airport in New York, is seeking to have the United States Government declassify the identity of one of the law enforcement officials involved in the case.In a motion filed by his attorney he is seeking to compel also the disclosure of a discovery related to a memorandum generated by an unknown law enforcement official.That officer allegedly met in 2006 with two of the US Government witnesses, namely Mathew Hanratty and Robert Addonizio.De Freitas is seeking to have the US Government disclose which agency the officer is affiliated with.The motion points to section two of the US’s Classified Information Procedures Act which purportedly allows for such a request.It was pointed out in the motion that both of De Freitas’ attorneys have secured “secret” level security clearance as it relates to the case being tried.De Freitas in a separate document informed that they will be using a decade-old conviction of a Govt. witness namely Steven Francis for the “purpose of impeachment.”It was pointed out that the evidence is significant, given that it relates to the jury’s credibility determination of the witness with respect to his cooperation in the case.Meanwhile, according to a Bloomberg online news report, the jury watched video for the first time of a defendant and a government witness driving around the airport in preparation of the attack.De Freitas, an ex-airline employee, and Steven Francis, a government informant who infiltrated the group,Authentic NFL Jerseys Wholesale China, could be seen on the video with De Freitas pointing out fuel tanks and the air-control tower.“As long as one of them tanks get hit: all gone,” De Freitas told Francis on the video recording on Jan. 3, 2007, played in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, today.De Freitas, a former Evergreen Airlines cargo worker, and Abdul Kadir,wholesale jerseys china, a citizen of Guyana who served as a member of the Guyanese Parliament,cheap nfl jerseys, are charged with hatching the plot in January 2006. They circulated their plan to an international network of Muslim extremists, prosecutors said in court papers.Francis, a naturalized U.S. citizen from the Dominican Republic, became a confidential informant for the federal government after he was convicted of drug trafficking.“You just can’t believe a place like Kennedy can be so lapsing,Jerseys NFL Wholesale China,” De Freitas, a U.S. citizen and native of Guyana, told Francis as they drove around the cargo and other areas where De Freitas used to work. “Yes! No soldier, nothing at all!”Less SecurityThe attacks were designed to destroy “the whole of Kennedy,” the largest airport in the New York City area, De Freitas said in a taped conversation, according to the Justice Department. The plot was foiled in the planning stages with the aid of Francis, Assistant U.S. Attorney Berit Berger told the jury in her June 30 opening statement.Francis testified that Neville Rutherford, a businessman in Guyana and a co-conspirator not charged in the case, told him that Christmas Eve would be a good time to conduct the attack because there would be less security at the airport.U.S. District Judge Dora L. Irizarry, presiding over the trial, ruled yesterday also that the government can’t introduce evidence about a second plot to blow up the U.S. and British embassies in Guyana.Rutherford discussed that plan with Francis in Guyana in 2006, the government said. De Freitas and Kadir weren’t aware of the plan, called The Beginning, it said. Prosecutors wanted to use the second conspiracy to counter the defence argument that without Francis the JFK plot wouldn’t have moved forward.Lawyers for both men opposed allowing the evidence in, saying it would be prejudicial against their clients.“It’s not part of the conspiracy that’s at issue here,” the judge told the lawyers outside the jury’s presence. “It’s a secondary plot.”Other ProbesIrizarry allowed Francis to testify generally that he worked overseas for the U.S. on other terrorism probes at the same time as the JFK case.The plotters conducted surveillance of the airport, including videotaping its buildings, and sought expert advice,cheap jerseys nfl wholesale, financing and explosives,World Baseball Classic Jerseys 2017, the prosecutor said.De Freitas, who by then no longer worked at the airport, allegedly was sent from Guyana to conduct video and photo surveillance. He allegedly identified the target sites and escape routes, in part, by using satellite photographs from the Internet.De Freitas allegedly compared the plot to terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center in September 2001 when two planes were crashed into the towers.Radical Groups“Even the twin towers can’t touch it,World Baseball Classic Jerseys Outlet,” he said in taped conversations, according to the Justice Department. “This can destroy the economy of America for some time.”In her opening statement, prosecutor Berger told jurors that Kadir was an engineer who advised on the technical aspects of the plot.The plot was circulated to radical groups in South America and the Caribbean, including Jamaat Al Muslimeen, which staged a coup attempt in Trinidad in 1990 that resulted in “numerous deaths,” according to court papers.Abdel Nur, a citizen of Guyana, pleaded guilty June 29 to one count of providing support to terrorists for his role in the plot. Kareem Ibrahim, a citizen of Trinidad, was granted a separate trial at a later date due to a medical condition.De Freitas pleaded not guilty in 2007. His co-defendants pleaded not guilty in 2008. They have been in custody without bail.De Freitas and Kadir face life in prison if convicted. |
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