Breaking news from MSNBC which picks up a WNBC-TV report:
Three people were arrested and one other was being sought Saturday in connection to a plan to set off explosives in a fuel line that feeds John F. Kennedy International Airport and runs through residential neighborhoods, officials close to the investigation said.
The plot, which never got past the planning stages, did not involve airplanes or passenger terminals, according to the two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the arrests had not yet been announced.
Law enforcement officials said the plot may have involved a former airport worker, as well as a former Guyanese goverment official, according to WNBC-TV NewsChannel4’s Jonathan Dienst, who first reported the story.
Details were to be given out at a 1 p.m. news conference.
The pipeline takes fuel from a facility in Linden, N.J., to the airport. Other lines service LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport.
The arrests mark the latest in a series of homegrown terrorism plots that targeted high-profile Amerian landmarks.
The story is a stark reminder that terrorist threats now come from several sources and that the U.S. can’t let its guard down.
UPDATE: WNBC has this report now:
According to NewsChannel4’s Jonathan Dienst, sources said federal investigators have made arrests in an alleged terror plot on Kennedy Airport.
Four people have been charged. One is in custody in New York. Three suspects are thought to be overseas, perhaps under arrest.
Law enforcement officials said the plot may involve a former airport worker.
Sources said one suspect is thought to be a former parliament or government official in Guyana.
Sources said the plot involved a plan to blow up a jet-fuel pipeline at JFK setting off a potential massive explosion.
Sources said counter-terrorism officials have been following the plot for a little less than one year.
Sources said a cargo worker at JFK allegedly began to plot attacking the US last July or August. MSNBC said the cargo worker sought help in carrying out a plan and went to an FBI informant.
Aviation officials said there is no major threat to air travel related to this plot.
One law enforcement official said: “[There was] credible intent to commit violence but it was not operational.”
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.