'US plot' pair in Trinidad court

Tight security was in place for the court hearing

Two men held in Trinidad over an alleged plot to blow up New York's JFK airport will fight moves to extradite them to the US, their lawyer says.

Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad and Abdul Kadir of Guyana appeared in court in Port-of-Spain to hear the judge fix an extradition hearing for August.

A third man is in custody in New York and a fourth man is sought in Trinidad.

They are accused of conspiring to blow up fuel tanks and pipelines serving the airport, one of the world's busiest.

Kareem Ibrahim and Abdul Kadir, a former Guyanese politician, made their initial court appearance to face one count each of conspiracy to commit a terrorist act against the government of the United States.

"We will be opposing extradition," said Rajid Persad, their lawyer.

See a map of the area

The judge remanded them in custody until 11 June when a bail hearing was due and an extradition hearing was set for 2 August.

US authorities said both men were associates of Jamaat al Muslimeen, a Muslim organisation behind a coup attempt in Trinidad in 1990.

The group is not accused of offering them any support.

FBI informant

The third suspect was arrested in Brooklyn late on Friday and named as Russell Defreitas, originally from Guyana.

Mr Defreitas was arraigned in New York City on Saturday afternoon, but did not enter a plea.

He is to be held pending a bail hearing on Wednesday, US prosecutors said.

A fourth suspect, Abdel Nur of Guyana, is believed to be in Trinidad.

The alleged plot - which is said not to have gone past the planning stages - involved blowing up the airport's fuel tanks and pipeline, US justice department officials said.

The pipeline is 40 miles (64km) long and carries jet fuel from New Jersey and through the New York boroughs of Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens.

The Buckeye pipeline serves two other airports in the area - LaGuardia and Newark Liberty.

The alleged plot was brought to light when Mr Defreitas recruited an FBI informant to help him in the plan, US officials said.

The men conducted surveillance of the airport, including videotaping their targets and downloading satellite images from the internet, according to officials.

They said the informant had recorded some of the conversations he had had with Mr Defreitas.

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