Posted on 04/10/2006 6:46:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
An Indian-born U.S. citizen was sentenced Monday to more than five years in prison for his role in a plot to obtain and sell Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Ilyas Ali, 58, formerly of St. Paul, Minn. also was ordered to serve five years probation following his release.
Ali pleaded guilty in 2004 to one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and hashish, and one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.
Two other men both from Pakistan pleaded guilty to the same charges. Muhamed Abid Afridi, 32, also was sentenced to nearly five years in prison. Sentencing for Syed Mustajab Shah, 57, is set for June 19.
Afridi admitted that he tried to sell five tons of hashish and a half-ton of heroin to undercover U.S. law enforcement officials in 2002 in exchange for cash and four shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, which he and the other defendants intended to sell to members of the Taliban. Such missiles could be used to shoot down airplanes, including commercial jets, flying at low altitudes.
According to prosecutors, Afridi knew at the time that the Taliban was the same as al-Qaida.
Defense attorneys Bernard Skomal and Debra Ann DiIorio did not immediately return a phone message left seeking comment.
Shah, Ali and Afridi were arrested on Sept. 20, 2002, by police in Hong Kong who received a tip from the FBI. The three were secretly videotaped in meetings days earlier with undercover FBI agents at a Hong Kong hotel.
Ali also met in April 2002 with an undercover agent in San Diego.
WTF??! 5 frickin' years? For trying to obtain Stingers for terrorists? I don't get it. 5 years followed by execution maybe, but 5 years and then (oh no) probation? What a joke.
5 years? 5 years?!!
How about 20 years just to start and then "re-education camp" for another 20. How about a chain gang with plenty of toilet scrubbing or pig manure shoveling?
title correction: Natural born Indian Muslim who later became a US citizen Gets Five Years in drugs for missles plot.
"...... 5 frickin' years?"....."What a joke!......"
I agree, my FRiend. It is a joke. Our whole Country is becoming a joke. Look at the Illegals "marching" today carrying American flags (Instead of the Mexican) as they were instructed to.
I wonder how many of the Sheeple will buy into their newfound "American Patriotism".
The Country is going through a slow train wreck but it's getting faster all the time.
He probably would have got a harsher sentence if they would have busted him with the heroin.
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