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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...

NEWARK, N.J. (Reuters) - A British businessman was found guilty on Wednesday of trying to aid terrorists for selling a shoulder-launched missile to an informant posing as a militant seeking to attack the United States. Hemant Lakhani, 69, a British citizen born in India, was found guilty of five criminal charges by a U.S. District Court jury in Newark, New Jersey, that began deliberating on Tuesday. Lakhani was arrested in August 2003 after a two-year international sting operation and accused of trying to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful arms sales, smuggling and two counts of money laundering. His arrest...

THE TRIAL of Hemant Lakhani, the Briton accused of trying to sell missiles to terrorists in the US, is underway, with the jury set to begin its final deliberations in New Jersey. Lakhani, 69, a London resident, was arrested after presenting a sample shoulder-fired missile to an FBI agent posing as a Somali terrorist. He has denied the charges. Lakhani`s lawyer, Henry Klingeman, has described his client as a "joke" who "couldn`t finish a deal if his life depended on it". According to him, Lakhani is a victim of entrapment, adding that his client could not have sold illegal arms...

<p>An Indian national pleaded guilty yesterday to conspiring to transmit money for an accused arms broker, but said he did not realize the payment was for missiles sold to terrorists.</p> <p>Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, 40, who lived in Malaysia, was arrested Aug. 12 as he and Yehuda Abraham, a New York jeweler, prepared to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars and transmit the money overseas from Abraham's office.</p>

EXPERTS from Scotland Yard, the FBI and international civil aviation agencies held closed-door meetings yesterday on how to secure airports against the lethal portable rockets that terrorists are trying to acquire. The talks, held at the Vienna headquarters of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, were examining how to minimise the threat of attacks by terrorists armed with shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles. "We know that al-Qaeda has these weapons, we know that they’ve used them, and we know that they’ll use them again," said Brian Woo, head of the OSCE’s anti-terrorism unit. The experts declined to discuss specific measures...

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- Experts from the FBI, Scotland Yard and international civil aviation agencies met Friday on how to secure airports against shoulder-fired rockets that terrorists are trying to acquire. The closed-door talks at the Vienna headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe examined how to minimize the threat. "We know that al-Qaida has these weapons, we know that they've used them, and we know that they'll use them again," said Brian Woo, head of the OSCE's anti-terrorism unit. The experts declined to discuss specific measures being taken to safeguard airports and airliners, but credited tighter...

EWARK, Jan. 9 — A British citizen who was arrested last August in a sting operation pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges that he plotted to sell shoulder-fired missiles that he knew were to be used against commercial airliners in the United States, as well as a so-called dirty bomb, to people he believed to be terrorists.The man, Hemant Lakhani, 69, a London resident of Indian ancestry, entered his plea Friday before Judge Katherine S. Hayden of Federal District Court. The judge ordered that he continue to be held without bail pending an April 26 hearing on pretrial motions.Christopher...

Briton denies trying to smuggle missiles into USA British man has pleaded not guilty to charges that he tried to smuggle shoulder-fired missiles into the US. Hemant Lakhani, 68, of Hendon, north London, also denied charges that he told an undercover agent posing as a terrorist that he could obtain a radioactive "dirty bomb". Lakhani, who appeared at New Jersey District Court in Newark, denied further charges that he offered to procure anti-aircraft guns, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, radar systems and C-4 explosives. No trial date was set but all parties will return to court on April 26, when defence...

<p>NEWARK -- A man already accused of supporting terrorists in a missile smuggling plot was indicted yesterday on charges that he also offered to deliver a "dirty bomb."</p> <p>In addition to shoulder-fired missiles, Hemant S. Lakhani also said he could get anti-aircraft guns, tanks, armored personnel carriers, radar systems and a "dirty bomb," U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said.</p>

An alleged missile broker arrested in New Jersey suggested to his buyer that the weapons be launched simultaneously against 15 U.S. jetliners and offered to deliver a radioactive "dirty bomb" for use against Americans, federal authorities said yesterday. Prosecutors announced the new allegations after a grand jury sitting in Newark returned a five-count indictment against the man, Hemant Lakhani. The 69-year-old London resident was arrested Aug. 12 at a hotel near Newark Liberty International Airport after he thought he had delivered an Igla shoulder-fired missile to a Somali terrorist who said he wanted to down U.S. planes. Officials said the...

NEWARK -- A man facing terrorism charges in a missile-smuggling plot will have another week to arrange a possible bail package. Hemant Lakhani was to have a bail hearing yesterday, but his lawyer wanted more time, said Michael Drewniak, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office. Lakhani, 68, of London, was arrested with two others Aug. 12 in a sting operation and charged with trying to provide material support to terrorists and dealing arms without a license. The first charge carries up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; the second, 10 years and $1 million. Prosecutors said...

Think the Unthinkable By Ralph Kinney Bennett 08/14/2003 The impossible can only be overborne by the unprecedented. -- Sir Ian Hamilton, Gallipoli Diary, 1920 The thing was done in a minute. It was September dusk and traffic was relatively light on the Grand Central Parkway as the black Honda Accord pulled over to the berm beside Planeview Park, at the end of LaGuardia Airport. As usual, a jetliner was in its final seconds before touching down on the runway. The whine of its engines could be heard above the rush of passing trucks and taxis. The sunroof on the Honda...

News Leak Blows Big Opportunity Newsweek Web Exclusive While publicly congratulating themselves over the bust of an international arms dealer in an alleged plot to sell Russian-made surface-to-air missiles, top Justice Department officials are privately fuming over a premature news leak that may have blown a rare opportunity to penetrate Al Qaeda's arms-buying network, NEWSWEEK has learned. THE FBI'S ARREST of London-based arms dealer Hemant Lakhani, 68, at a hotel room near Newark Liberty International Airport this week was supposed to be only an interim step in what officials hoped would be a far more meaningful long-term operation, law-enforcement sources...

The reputation of BBC journalism, already under the spotlight at the Hutton Inquiry, faces another test after one of its senior correspondents announced he was taking legal action against an American magazine. Tom Mangold said he was "issuing legal proceedings" against Newsweek after it alleged that his exclusive report on tthe arrest of a British-Indian businessman for attempting to sell missiles to Islamic terrorists had "blown" a major intelligence operation. Mangold has instructed the solicitors Mischcon de Reya to write to the magazine which claimed that his report on the arrest of Hemant Lakhani had forced the FBI to "abort...

The FBI has accused the BBC of wrecking an elaborate operation that was designed to infiltrate al-Qaida. The BBC, regarded by some as institutionally anti-American, is said to have aborted the operation by broadcasting an "exclusive" report about the arrest of a British arms dealer last Tuesday. The arms dealer was allegedly attempting to purchase ground-to-air missiles for terrorist clients who were seeking to shoot down civilian airliners in the United States. But what 68-year-old Hemant Lakhani did not know was that he was the subject of an elaborate, 18-month-long sting operation that involved Russian intelligence "suppliers" and FBI "customers."...

In the terrorism business, it seems, diversity is all the rage. What Hemant Lakhani, an international arms dealer of British nationality and Indian ethnicity, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, a Muslim from Malaysia, and Yehuda Abraham, a Jewish-American gem dealer who works out of New York City's diamond district, have in common is that they are all being held in connection with a plot to purchase surface-to-air missiles on behalf of terrorists. Except that the alleged terrorists they were dealing with were really FBI agents and informants, who had been tracking them for over a year in an effort to smoke out...

By JEFFREY GOLD Associated Press Writer NEWARK, N.J. (AP)--The only U.S. citizen arrested in a suspected arms smuggling plot is eligible for release on $10 million bail, a judge ruled Friday. Yehuda Abraham, 76, a Manhattan diamond dealer, will remain in federal custody until court officials interview at least 10 friends and relatives willing to post his bond. Federal prosecutors wanted Abraham held without bail on a charge of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He was among three men arrested Tuesday after an international sting. The accusations center on Hemant Lakhani, a 68-year-old Briton charged with trying...

Aug. 13— Administration officials are leaving out key facts and exaggerating the significance of the alleged plot to smuggle a shoulder-launched missile into the United States, law enforcement officials told ABCNEWS. They say there's a lot less than meets the eye. The accused ringleader, British national Hemant Lakhani, appeared today in federal court in Newark, N.J., and was ordered held without bond on charges of attempting to provide material support and material resources to terrorists and acting as an arms broker without a license. Outside the courtroom, U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie called Lakhani an ally of terrorists who want to...

Nicked ... emotionless Lakhani arrives at court THE British arms dealer seized over a US terror plot hero-worshipped Osama Bin Laden.Hemant Lakhani, 68, tried to supply missiles for a blitz on the scale of the September 11 attacks.He spoke of a bid to shoot down a plane on the anniversary of 9/11.Lakhani hated the US and was hell-bent on killing Americans, prosecutors said last night.The arms dealer believed terror leader Osama Bin Laden “did something right and set the Americans straight” when he orchestrated the September 11 attacks.And he was ready to help extremists unleash a new wave of terror....

NEWARK, New Jersey - An American Jew was among three suspects nabbed for allegedly attempting to smuggle a missile to terror groups operating inside the United States in order to down commercial aircraft. But the smuggling attempt was in fact a sting operation orchestrated over the past 18 months by U.S., Russian and British authorities. Terrorism-related charges were leveled on Wednesday against a British arms dealer who praised Osama bin Laden and thought he was smuggling into the United States missiles, federal prosecutors announced. Two other suspected accomplices to the plot, inlcuding Yehuda Abraham, who is Jewish, face conspiracy charges,...