Boxes of documents? That’s strange. Engineering drawings, specifications, and such are almost entirely digital these days. A thumb drive would be much easier to conceal than boxes of documents. Either this Iranian is an idiot, or something isn’t quite right. Why would anyone ship boxes of documents versus a DVD or thumb drive? Maybe these “brochures and manuals” were training guides or sales brochures. That sort of stuff isn’t going to be in depth enough to actually build an F-35. Again, hmmm. This may be more innocent than the article implies unless the brochures and manuals were actually classified. Did I miss mention that they were classified in the article?
I would imagine that any downloads of documents, plans etc are closely monitored and could be traced.
You don’t have to build a replica of the F-35 in order to make good use of the information. Russia, China, and Pakistan will pay several fortunes to have access to the information for a variety of purposes, including the development of counter-weapon systems.