Trinidad group denies tie to New York airport plot

PORT OF SPAIN, June 7 (Reuters) A Trinidad-based Muslim group linked by US authorities to what they say is a plot to blow up New York's John F Kennedy International Airport denied any involvement.

''The whole thing is a laughable matter and the government and the opposition, even the media, both local and international have fallen for this conspiracy,'' said Kala Aki-Bua, a spokesman for Jamaat al Muslimeen yesterday.

The Muslim group was behind a coup attempt in this twin-island Caribbean nation in 1990 and its leader, 64-year-old Yasin Abu Bakr, is facing sedition and extortion charges for a 2005 sermon in which he is accused of threatening bloodshed against all Trinidadian Muslims who fail to pay him a ''zakaat'' or tax.

US officials have said at least two suspects in the alleged plot to blow up fuel depots and pipelines at the airport belonged to Jamaat al Muslimeen.

Aki-Bua told reporters one of the suspects, Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad, was a former member of the organization. But he said that Ibrahim had left the group 20 years ago.

Another suspect, Abdel Nur of Guyana, recently may have attended a prayer session at a Muslimeen mosque on the western outskirts of Port of Spain, Aki-Bua said.

He said he was unable to confirm Nur's presence at the mosque, however, and added that Abu Bakr himself was not acquainted with any of the four suspects charged on Saturday and arrested in Trinidad and New York.

REUTERS JK BST0544