Posted on 09/15/2005 8:47:31 PM PDT by mdittmar
A businessman from Hendon was sentenced to 47 years in prison on Monday after being found guilty of attempting to smuggle missiles into America.
Clothing merchant Hemant Lakhani, 70, of Wykeham Road, was convicted in April this year of trying to sell shoulder-launched missiles to a Somali terrorist group to shoot down commercial airliners.
The case centred on the evidence of the US government's key witness, Mohammed Habib Rehman, an informant posing as a representative of the Somali-based Ogaden National Liberation Front interested in buying missiles.
The court in Newark, New Jersey, heard tape-recorded telephone conversations and viewed video surveillance of meetings between Lakhani and Mr Rehman.
One video, filmed secretly at a hotel, shows Lakhani and Mr Rehman standing by a window overlooking the airport with a disabled Russian-made Igla shoulder-fired missile in a box, discussing how missiles could be used to bring down airplanes in several locations simultaneously.
Lakhani was arrested after an FBI sting in August 2003. He has always maintained his innocence. Defending him, Henry Klingeman argued that he was the victim of government entrapment because the missile seller and buyer were government agents.
Indian-born Lakhani, who underwent a double hernia operation and heart surgery since the trial began in January, addressed the court for 15 minutes on Monday, begging Judge Katherine Hayden for leniency. "I don't want to die here in this country," he told the court.
But Judge Hayden said there was overwhelming evidence of his reprehensible conduct.' The government had argued that Lakhani had planned to arrange the sale of at least 50 more missiles after the sale of the first one.
He had been convicted on all five charges against him: attempting to provide material support to terrorists; weapons brokering; attempting to import goods into the US using false statements; and two counts of money laundering.
Prosecutors sought the maximum on each count a total of 67 years with assistant US attorney Stuart Rabner giving evidence in which Lakhani volunteered praise for Osama bin Laden. "We may see a man who looks like us and dresses like us, but is so morally bankrupt that he plots the death of thousands of people," he said.
Lakhani's wife, Kusum, who worked at the Sangam Centre in Burnt Oak, told the judge her husband was not a terrorist. "He would never even kill an ant," she said.
Jason Ezekiel, a plumber who recently bought the Lakhanis' home in Wykeham Road, said one of their relatives disputed the charges the businessman faced.
"He told me that he was a very kind and gentle man who wouldn't hurt a fly and that it was a shame that he got involved in this whole incident," he explained.
Another neighbour, David Ipale, who has lived in the road for 26 years, said: "Lakhani was never here very much. He was on business trips all the time so didn't have much communication with neighbours."
Mr Ipale was not surprised by the long sentence and felt it was justified. "I wasn't shocked," he said. "If the guy is guilty then he deserves it. If innocent people could die because someone is guilty, he deserves every moment he gets. He should serve his term. It's not long enough. People who play with fire get burned."
Thant Aye, 54, a former neighbour, said: "He found himself in a pickle and is now being branded as a terrorist, but he's not.
"It is a 21st Century David and Goliath war. The jury has been fed with Goliath-sized evidence of controvertible thinking rather than incontrovertible evidence.
"It's Swiss-cheese evidence full of holes."
He added that he expected Lakhani to appeal.
He's 70 years old and was given a 47 year federal sentence. He is in for life.
There's absolutely no doubt that this guy was aiding and abetting terrorist acts that were intended to kill thousands of people. This guy should be sentenced to a 6-foot open grave.
EAST INDIAN DARWIN AWARD WINNER.
He'll spend the rest of his life in a US prison.
How could any Indian be that dumb?
Thank heavens..
Gee, that will show him what suffering can come from his misguided actions....
The last "fruit cake" I experienced was 20 years ago and during a pleasant morning cup of coffee at a friends house his girl friend took a swing at me in rage for killing an annoying house fly which was most focused in it's annoyance attitude.
She was known as a gentle and accepting person....
That's rhetorical right?
When in your environment, SWAT 'EM and enjoy life without their company.
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