US law enforcement officials said on Sunday they intervened in an alleged terror plot to attack John F. Kennedy airport before the four individuals charged in the case, including a US citizen and native of Guyana, could get "close" to money or explosives.

Raymond Kelly, the New York police commissioner, said it was "difficult to say" whether the individuals could have pulled off their alleged plot to blow up the international airport's main jet-fuel supply tanks and pipelines, or what the plan could have "morphed into", had the individuals managed to create a partnership with a militant group.