Jetliner missile plot trial begins

A Briton went on trial in Newark, N.J., Tuesday accused of trying to sell missiles to Islamic terrorists so they could shoot down a U.S. airliner.

In the case, Indian-born Hemant Lakhani, 69, faces 25 years in jail if convicted for allegedly offering to sell Russian shoulder-launched anti-aircraft weapons to a federal informant posing as an Islamic terrorist.

But the people Lakhani believed were selling the weapons system to him in Russia were also working for the feds -- the Russian Federal Security Bureau, successor to the KGB. And the missile had been rendered inert before it even left the factory.

August 13, 2003

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office

NEWARK, N.J. - A British arms dealer appeared in U.S. District Court today, on charges that he tried to complete the sale of a shoulder-fired missile, with the understanding that it was going to be used to shoot down an American commercial airliner, the U.S. Attorney's Office and Justice Department announced today.

Two other defendants were arrested. Both of them helped in a planned money transfer that was part of the transaction. One of those two individuals arrived in the U.S. to allegedly arrange for a $500,000 downpayment from a government cooperating witness for 50 more shoulder-fired missiles.

U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of the District in New Jersey and FBI Director Robert Mueller and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge in Washington, announced the filing of a criminal complaint charging Hemant Lakhani with attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to sell arms without a license. Lakhani, 68, of London, England, flew from London to John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday and was arrested yesterday by Special Agents of the FBI/Newark Joint Terrorism Task Force, as he was meeting with a government cooperating witness to complete the sale of a single shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile.

A criminal complaint against Lakhani filed under seal on Monday in U.S. District Court in Newark alleges that Lakhani went to New Jersey to arrange for the sale of at least another 50 anti-aircraft missiles to the cooperating witness, who was posing as a representative of a Somali terror organization.

Separate criminal complaints were filed against Yehuda Abraham,76, a New York City jeweler and money remitter, and Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed of Malaysia. Hameed arrived from Malaysia yesterday allegedly as part of the planned sale of another 50 missiles. Hameed was to collect an initial payment of $500,000 from the government cooperating witness, according to the complaint. Both men are charged with conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Lakhani, a British national born in India, and Hameed, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark. At the government's request, Judge Wigenton continued the initial appearance for several days, during which the defendants will remain in federal custody. The third defendant, Abraham, was expected to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Manhattan sometime today.

U.S. Attorney General Ashcroft said the investigation, which began in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on America, also involved law enforcement authorities in the Russian Federation, who infiltrated Lakhani's pipeline to a weapons supplier.

"This investigation shows that all agencies of the federal government and our international allies will work together tirelessly to keep innocent people safe," said Ashcroft. "America is vigilant against danger. Justice will be done."

"This was deadly serious business," said Christie. "Without the very effective intervention of the FBI - Newark, the Joint Terrorism Task Force composed of our federal, state and local law enforcement partners and the indispensable help of the Russian FSB, Lakhani might well have paved the way for others do unimaginable damage."

According to the criminal complaint, contact between Lakhani and the cooperating witness began in December 2001, with most of the conversations spoken in Urdu or Hindi. The following month, after the cooperating witness said he wanted to purchase one surface-to-air missile initially and more to follow, Lakhani represented to the cooperating witness that he could export weapons from sources in the former Soviet Union. At a meeting between the two in New Jersey, Lakhani provided a military arms brochure and business cards from individuals with whom he had connections.

The complaint states that during a video- and audio-taped meeting at a hotel overlooking Newark Airport in September 2002, Lakhani and the cooperating witness looked out and gestured at departing commercial aircraft. Lakhani allegedly said he understood the purpose of the sale was to shoot down an aircraft and cause economic harm to the United States - to "make one explosion ... to shake the economy."

Among the more than 150 other audio- or video-taped conversations during the investigation, Lakhani allegedly spoke approvingly of Usama bin Laden, saying bin Laden "straightened them all out" and "did a good thing." And, in a another conversation, Lakhani was recorded saying, "The Americans are bastards."

As stated in the complaint, the discussions continued about importation of the missile, and on Aug. 17, 2002, Lakhani said he understood that the buyer of the missile had wanted it for "the anniversary" - a reference to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America. Three days later, Lakhani allegedly faxed the cooperating witness a document listing the price for an "Igla-S portable anti-aircraft missile complex," including a price breakdown between the missile and its launcher. In more recorded conversations during August 2002, Lakhani allegedly said the supplier was concerned that the deal for just one missile was "too risky," and that he had committed to the supplier that there would be a purchase of at least an additional 20 missiles.

The complaint further alleges that on or about July 12, 2003, Lakhani traveled to Moscow to meet with the suppliers and the government's cooperating witness. At a meeting two days later, Lakhani met with the witness and two officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), posing as the suppliers. The FSB officers showed Lakhani what appeared to be an actual surface-to-air missile, which was actually an unarmed replica. In subsequent meetings, Lakhani allegedly discussed payment arrangements and his desire to arrange a deal for the purchase of an additional 50 surface-to-air missiles.

The complaint alleges that during a July 18, 2003, recorded meeting, Lakhani provided to the FSB officers a document on corporate letterhead, stating that the company had authorized its foreign bank to release the payment of $70,000 to the account specified by the FSB officers.

Representatives of the State Department's Directorate of Defense Trade Control have advised that the surface-to-air missiles at issue in this case - a Russian-manufactured Igla-S portable anti-aircraft missile complex - are "foreign defense articles" subject to their regulatory authority. Lakhani is neither registered with the DTCT nor licensed to engage in the business of importing or transferring any defense articles.

Criminal charges were also filed against Yehuda Abraham, the owner of Ambuy Gem Corp. in New York City, for allegedly helping to arrange the delivery of a $30,000 down payment between the cooperating witness and Lakhani. Abraham, 75, of New York, who also owns a money remittance business, was arrested today and charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.

Maximum penalties for the defendants:
Lakhani: providing material support to terrorists, 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine; selling arms without a license, 10 years and a $1 million fine. Abraham and Hameed: conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, five years and a $250,000 fine.

The case is being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Clark and Brian R. Howe. The international investigation that led to today's charges was assisted by law enforcement authorities in Russia, and is the product of New Jersey's Joint Terrorism Task Force, particularly agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service at the Department of Homeland Security, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

04-20-04 -- Hameed, Moinuddeen Ahmed -- Guilty Plea -- News Release

Indian National Admits Conspiring to Transmit Money Overseas Used in Connection with Sale of Shoulder-Fired Anti-Aircraft Missiles

NEWARK - An Indian national pleaded guilty today to his role in the attempted transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the planned purchase by a British arms dealer of 50 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, 40, admitted before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden that he traveled to New York from Malaysia to conduct the transfer of the money with Hemant Lakhani, a British arms dealer awaiting trial for conspiring to broker deals for missiles and explosives to aid a Somali terrorist group.

Hameed admitted that he knew the money transmitting business he was engaging in was illegal. However, he said he did not know what the funds were to be used for.

In a cooperating plea agreement with the government, Hameed pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to operate a money transmitting business without a license. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Judge Hayden scheduled sentencing for July 6 at 2 p.m.

Lakhani met numerous times over approximately one-and-a-half years with a government cooperating witness who Lakhani believed was representing a Somali terrorist organization that wanted to shoot down American commercial airliners. On Aug. 12, 2003, Lakhani was arrested, along with New York jeweler and money remitter Yehuda Abraham, who had earlier arranged the transfer overseas of a $30,000 down payment to Lakhani for the initial purchase of one shoulder-fired missile.

Hameed, who was arrested the same day in New York, and Abraham were prepared to receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash as partial payment for 50 more missiles Lakhani said he could procure for people he believed were Somali terrorists, according to Lakhani's Indictment. Hameed admitted that he and Abraham were meeting to accept the funds which they were to transmit outside the United States on Lakhani's behalf.

Abraham pleaded guilty on March 30 to operating an illegal money transmitting business and made similar admissions. Abraham too said he did not know, and did not ask, what the initial $30,000 payment to Lakhani and subsequent hundreds of thousands of dollars was to be used for. Abraham's sentencing is scheduled for July 19 at 2 p.m.

The cases against Lakhani, Abraham and Hameed are being prosecuted by U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie of New Jersey and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Clark and Brian R. Howe. The international investigation has been assisted by law enforcement authorities in Russia and is the product of New Jersey's Joint Terrorism Task Force, particularly agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service at the Department of Homeland Security, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

-end-

Defense Counsel for Hameed: Cathy Fleming, Esq. New York

FBI snared me in terrorist missile deal, says Briton
By Stewart Tendler, Crime Correspondent
A BRITISH businessman facing 15 years in a US jail for plotting to smuggle surface-to-air missiles claims that he was trapped by FBI and Russian agents.

Hemant Lakhani is due to go on trial in a New Jersey court this year but says that he was ensnared in a plot involving a sting operation, a professional informant, secret videotapes and a fake missile.

When the London-based Mr Lakhani, 69, was arrested last year amid much publicity he was branded by American prosecutors as a terrorist sympathiser involved in attempting to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States to shoot down airliners. According to court papers Mr Lakhani believed that the missiles would be used to shoot down American airliners by Islamic terrorists.

Mr Lakhani was described by prosecutors as a “true believer in the cause that America should be attacked and that its citizens should be killed”.

But the businessman, interviewed in jail, claims that there was no missile, no buyer and no seller. A devout Hindu who had travelled the world in search of deals, he says he was trapped after he was asked to use his global business links to find backers for a $1 billion (£556 million) Indian oil refinery project from which he stood to make $2.5 million.

He was introduced to a potential investor claiming to be a rich Saudi. In fact he was a career informant called Air Haji, also known as Mohammed Habib Rehman, who has worked for the FBI and US drug investigators.

Shortly after September 11, 2001, Mr Haji told Mr Lakhani that he represented the Ogaden Liberation Front, a rebel group seeking independence in a region between Somalia and Ethiopia.

Mr Haji said he was interested in shoulder-fired missiles, and the Briton, desperate to please his potential investor, promised to try to find some.

By April 2002 Mr Lakhani had virtually given up until he received a call from a Saudi oil executive who put him in touch with a man in Ukraine named Sergi.

Sergi, who is believed to have been working for Russian intelligence, said that he could suppy Igla shoulder-fired missiles. Mr Haji wanted the missile sent to the Middle East, then to America. He said that if Mr Lakhani could complete the deal he would make “so much money . . . the floodgates will open”.

Mr Lakhani said Mr Haji wanted 200 missiles, starting with an initial order for 20, but he required a sample. The deal was worth $21 million and the Londoner would get a cut.

Mr Lakhani met Mr Haji in September 2002 at an hotel overlooking Newark airport in New Jersey. Mr Haji told him that if he could get his hands on an Igla missile he would shoot down an aircraft in a plan to “ruin the American economy”.

All the conversations were being recorded by FBI agents and, according to the charges against Mr Lakhani, he suggested that America would be shaken if 15 airliners were shot down.

Mr Lakhani denies the comment but admits that he knew the sale was illegal. He said: “All along he wanted to entrap me. He was begging and begging me. He’d say, ‘I’ve got 20 million, I’ve got 10 million, I’ve got so many million.’ All these temptations and temptations.”

In August last year Mr Lakhani and Mr Haji met again in Newark to inspect the weapon, which was a fake. Mr Haji excused himself, and the room was stormed by FBI agents and Customs officers.

Mr Lakhani’s lawyer, Henry Klingeman, argues that the case was entrapment and that any person would have been tempted to get involved in a scheme that promised a multimillion-dollar pay day.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3960925

Missile-Selling British Hindu Businessman 'Was Entrapped'

By Mark Sage, PA, in Newark, New Jersey

A British small-time businessman offered to sell 200 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to be used in a plot to terrorise the United States, a court heard.

Hemant Lakhani, 69, told an undercover FBI agent that the rockets could be used to shoot down 10 to 15 airlines simultaneously on the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist outrage.

Lakhani, from Hendon, north London, denies the accusations, and rejects further charges that he promised to sell a radioactive “dirty bomb”.

He claims he is the victim of an entrapment operation by American, British and Russian intelligence agencies, under pressure to catch terror suspects following September 11.

Stuart Rabner, prosecuting, told the jury in New Jersey yesterday: “This case is about a man who enthusiastically tried to sell 200 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to people who he believed would use them to shoot down planes in the sky, with people aboard, as part of a terrorist attack on the United States.

“He spent more than a year and a half eagerly trying to make this deal happen, actively trying to smuggle 200 shoulder-fired missiles into the United States, all the time issuing advice on how to shoot planes out of the sky in order to shake the US economy.”

Mr Rabner told the jury at New Jersey District Court, in Newark, that Lakhani praised terror chief Osama bin Laden for the September 11 attacks.

Lakhani was arrested in August 2003 at a hotel overlooking Newark Airport, moments after allegedly presenting a single “sample” missile to the FBI informant, called Air Haji.

Lakhani was arrested and charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, one count of unlawful brokering of foreign defence articles, two counts of money laundering, and one count of attempting to import merchandise into the US by means of false statements.

He has been in custody in New Jersey since.

Mr Rabner told the jury there was a “mood of celebration” in the hotel room moments before it was stormed by FBI and Customs officers.

He told jurors that Lakhani had offered advice on how to carry out a terrorist attack.

Lakhani advised: “You must target 10 to 15 different airports at the same time,” he said. Lakhani noted that there would be an average of 400 people on each commercial airliner and the busiest days for air travel were Monday and Friday.

Mr Rabner said Lakhani had worked as a clothing merchant for many years.

But he was “far more than a clothing merchant”.

In recent years, he claimed, Lakhani had been trying to break into the international arms trade.

The missile Lakhani obtained as a sample for the FBI informant was a Russian-made Igla SA18.

As he was soliciting a Ukrainian arms company in search of the rockets, the Russian intelligence service – the FSB – got wind of the plot.

They set Lakhani up, providing him with a dud and shipping it to the United States.

In one of about 200 tape recordings of conversations between Lakhani and Haji, Lakhani allegedly praised al-Qaida chief bin Laden, because he “had straightened these idiots” on September 11, 2001.

“He did a very good job,” Lakhani allegedly said.

During one meeting Haji, who was posing as a representative of a Somali terrorist group, made it clear the sale would be illegal.

Lakhani told him: “Whatever he asked for is available. You can get as many pieces as you want. The job can be done, 100%.” In another secretly-recorded meeting, the court heard, Lakhani said: “Eventually our dreams will become a reality.

Indian-born Lakhani, who is a strict Hindu, added: “If Allah blesses us we can finish this.”

The pair also discussed whether Lakhani could obtain a radioactive dirty bomb.

Lakhani offered Haji such a device for £1.6 million, saying: “The item is available.”

Mr Rabner accepted that Lakhani was set up but suggested it was not entrapment.

“Was he set up? Yes. He set himself up by reaching out on the advice of a terrorist to the wrong person – to someone who was working in cooperation with law enforcement and was passing that information back to them,” he said.

But Lakhani’s defence lawyer, Henry Klingeman, painted a picture of a man overcome by the temptation to make a massive multi-million pound sale.

“He spent his adult life in search of the almighty British Pound,” he said.

He accepted the general case against his client as true and asked, therefore “how can Mr Lakhani be not guilty?” “The answer is one word: entrapment,” he said.

Lakhani, dressed in a charcoal suit and with greying hair, looked on as Mr Klingeman said his client had no criminal history, no links to terrorism and no sympathies with Islamic extremism.

He added that Lakhani was “utterly incapable” of conceiving and carrying out the missile plot without the aid of intelligence agencies.

The FBI agent, Haji, was a former drug trafficker, Mr Klingeman said, who had apparently become a professional informant to escape jail.

By contrast, Lakhani had lived in Britain for 40 years after training as a lawyer and marrying his wife Kusum.

Mr Klingeman said Lakhani was targeted by the FBI which was under pressure to catch terrorists following September 11.

“September 11 has put enormous pressure on the (US) Government, specifically on the FBI, to prevent future September 11s and to apprehend those who would do us harm.

“You could lock up Mr Lakhani and throw away the key and it would make no difference. He is not a terrorist.

“The government manufactured this. The evidence will show that the government came up with the idea to bring missiles into the United States. Mr Lakhani did not.

“The Government implanted in Mr Lakhani’s mind the idea to try and obtain these missiles.

“How is that making us safer?”

Mr Klingeman confirmed Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, played a role in the operation and compared it to a film by Steven Spielberg.

“Like a Hollywood movie, this case is a work of fiction,” he said.

He added: “If the Government had not come looking for Mr Lakhani, Mr Lakhani would be sitting in the living room of his modest north London home right now asking his wife for some more hot tea no missiles coming to the US, no threat to the US.”

The trial continues.

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/print_apress_011905_missileplotsurgery.html

Alleged Missile Plotter To Undergo Heart Surgery

(Newark -AP, January 19, 2005) — A British businessman on trial for allegedly trying to sell shoulder-fired missiles to a terrorist group will undergo heart surgery as early as Thursday because of blocked arteries, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Hemant Lakhani, 69, has appeared frail since the start of the trial Jan. 4 and indicated he was feeling ill in court last Thursday. He was hospitalized at St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center in Paterson later that evening and the trial was postponed.

During a brief hearing Wednesday, Lakhani's lawyer told U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden the defendant needs angioplasty. Defense attorney Henry Klingeman said a healthy person would need two weeks to recover from the procedure, but that his client may need more time.

Klingeman said Lakhani suffers from gout and has two hernias, and has suffered from hypertension in the past.

The judge said Lakhani's wife and son would be allowed to visit him in the hospital. After the hearing, Lakhani's wife said she saw her husband Tuesday and that he was tired and weak.

Lakhani's doctor on Tuesday said he did not expect Lakhani would be able to return to court for at least a week, regardless of whether surgery was needed.

Lakhani faces charges including attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to sell arms without a license, counts that carry a combined sentence of 25 years. He has denied all charges and any links to terrorism.

The trial, which was expected to last at least 10 weeks, has so far centered on the testimony of the government's key witness, Mohammed Habib Rehman, a confidential informant who posed as the representative of an east African terrorist group interested in purchasing a missile.

The government has presented details of the plot through taped telephone conversations and video surveillance of meetings between Lakhani and Rehman.

Klingeman maintains his client, a clothing merchant with no prior criminal record, is a victim of government entrapment.

Surveillance videos shown to jurors have shown the physical toll the case appears to have taken on Lakhani, who has been imprisoned since his arrest in a Newark hotel room in August 2003. In the tapes, Lakhani looks healthy and Klingeman said his client appears to weigh considerably more than he does now.

Lakhani has had little to eat or drink since his trial began, his doctor told the judge Tuesday.

Missile middleman trial put on hold for defendant to undergo angioplasty
Thursday, January 20, 2005
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

A federal judge agreed yesterday to indefinitely postpone the trial of accused missile broker Hemant Lakhani while Lakhani is treated for a clogged coronary artery.

Doctors attending to the 69-year-old defendant determined he has "severe arterial blockage" that requires immediate medical attention, his attorney, Henry Klingeman, told U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden in Newark.

Hayden halted testimony last week after Lakhani was hospitalized for dehydration. He later underwent kidney and heart tests at St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center in Paterson.

Klingeman said doctors gave Lakhani three options to repair the blockage: medication that would allow him to function temporarily; open-heart surgery for a triple bypass, or angioplasty, a less-intrusive procedure in which a balloon catheter is inserted to widen the artery and increase blood flow.

After consulting with his wife, Lakhani opted for the angioplasty, his attorney said. The procedure could occur as early as today.

Klingeman said doctors told him Lakhani would need at least a week to recover before he is able to return to court. The doctors also said Lakhani might require a second angioplasty, which could further delay his convalescence, Klingeman said.

"It sounds like under the best circumstances, we won't be able to resume trial for a week or two weeks," he told the judge.

Hayden said it was pointless to predict the outcome, but hoped doctors could give a clearer prognosis after the surgery. She asked the defense attorney and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart Rabner and Brian Howe to be available for a status conference after Lakhani's surgery, possibly today or tomorrow.

"The medical community and how Mr. Lakhani does are really center stage now," the judge said.

A British businessman of Indian descent, Lakhani has been held in the Passaic County Jail since his August 2003 arrest on charges of attempted material support of terrorism, money laundering and illegal arms dealing.

Prosecutors say he arranged to sell shoulder-fired missiles to an FBI informant in New Jersey who was posing as a buyer for an East African terrorist group. The informant said he wanted the missiles to shoot down U.S. jetliners.

Lakhani has not denied the facts of the case but, through his attorney, contends that he was the victim of government entrapment because the FBI supplied the buyer and undercover Russian agents posed as arms dealers.

The trial began Jan. 4 and was expected to last at least 10 weeks.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newjersey/ny-bc-nj--missileplot0207feb07,0,7917394.story?coll=ny-region-apnewjersey

Trial resumes after defendant has heart procedure

February 7, 2005, 8:54 PM EST

NEWARK, N.J. -- A British businessman accused of trying to sell shoulder-fired missiles to a terrorist group was back on trial Monday after having a heart procedure.

Hemant Lakhani, 69, faces charges including attempting to provide material support to terrorists and attempting to sell arms without a license, counts that carry a combined sentence of 25 years. He has denied all charges and any links to terrorism.

His trial was delayed after he fell ill last month and then had angioplasty at St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center in Paterson.

Lakhani's attorney, Henry Klingeman, told the court Monday that his client was "well enough" to continue.

Federal prosecutor Stuart Rabner resumed questioning the government's star witness, Mohammed Habib "Haji" Rehman, a confidential informant.

Rehman has occupied the witness stand for the bulk of the trial since its Jan. 4 start. The backbone of the government's case consists of hundreds of hours of secretly taped conversations between Rehman and Lakhani.

Transcripts of the tapes presented in court Monday showed Rehman repeatedly urging Lakhani to complete the deal for a first "sample" missile that was intended for an East African terrorist group.

According to the transcripts, nearly a year after Lakhani had allegedly agreed to take part in the scheme, he still was struggling to finish the deal.

At one point in November 2002, Lakhani for a moment appeared to suspect Rehman might be a double agent.

"Boss, don't you ever think like this," Rehman said.

Klingeman, who contends his client was the victim of government entrapment, is expected to begin cross-examining Rehman later this week.

Lakhani has been imprisoned since his arrest in a Newark hotel room in August 2003.

No verdict in missile trial as jury deliberations start
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

Jurors began deliberating the fate of accused missile broker Hemant Lakhani yesterday, but ended the day without a verdict.

U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden released the panel after it met for nearly six hours in a fourth-floor room at the federal courthouse in Newark. She ordered the eight women and four men, as well as the lone alternate juror, a female, to resume deliberations this morning.

Lakhani, a 69-year-old British businessman, was arrested in an FBI sting at an Elizabeth hotel in August 2003 and later indicted for attempted material support of terrorism, illegal arms brokering, money laundering and making false statements in support of terrorism.

Prosecutors say Lakhani was a budding arms dealer eager to supply shoulder-fired missiles to an undercover FBI informant who said he represented terrorists planning an attack against U.S. jetliners. After Lakhani struggled for more than a year to find missiles, Russian federal agents intervened and posed as weapons suppliers to complete the deal.

Lakhani has not disputed the facts of the case, but contends he was entrapped because government agents orchestrated all aspects of the deal.

The jurors sent the judge one question yesterday, asking for a definition of the word "commerce" as it is used in the indictment. On the smuggling charge, Lakhani is accused of "intending to introduce missiles into the commerce of the United States."

After consulting with the attorneys, the judge sent the jurors a definition from Black's Legal Dictionary. It described commerce as "the exchange of goods and services, especially on a large scale, involving transportation between cities, states and nations."

The prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart Rabner and Brian Howe, and defense attorney Henry Klingeman all declined to comment on the question or speculate as to its significance.

If he is convicted on all counts, Lakhani could face more than 30 years in prison.

Jury to deliberate in Hemant Lakhani trial
GG2.NET NEWS [27/04/2005]

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 without the help of a manufactured government plot.

But prosecutors have argued that Lakhani tried to sell arms to at least three countries. They dispute the entrapment claims and say Lakhani agreed to the arms deal "with gusto", offering to sell 50 or more missiles.

Lakhani has denied one count of attempting to provide material support to terrorists and one count of unlawful brokering of foreign defence articles.

He also faces two counts of money laundering, and one count of attempting to import merchandise into the US by means of false statements.

He was one of the three people arrested following an operation by the FBI, UK and Russian intelligence services. He has been held in a New Jersey prison since his arrest in August 2003, following a two-year surveillance operation.

He could be sentenced to up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

The trial, which began five months ago, has been repeatedly adjourned as Lakhani had to undergo surgery for severe artery damage, a double hernia and internal bleeding.

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