Joseb Kharabadze, 52, Upper West Side of Manhattan. Native former Soviet Republic of Georgia.
Posted on 03/16/2005 10:48:10 AM PST by Liz
Joseb Kharabadze, 52, Upper West Side of Manhattan. Native former Soviet Republic of Georgia.
The feds charged a band of NY arms merchants yesterday in a chilling million-dollar plot to smuggle thousands of Russian weapons into the United States — including shoulder-fired missiles capable of shooting down airliners.
The 17 arrests followed a two-year-long sting in which a patriotic FBI informant who is a South African munitions expert posed as an arms buyer with ties to al Qaeda.
"Are you interested in buying weapons?" the arms sellers asked, claiming they had ties to the Russian mob and rogue members of the Russian military.
"Yes," the informant replied.
"Are your friends dark-skinned?" the men asked, referring to radical Muslims.
"Yes," the informant replied again.
The sellers offered to supply 2,000 (weapons) for at least $2 million.
A law-enforcement official described the informant as a "pure hero" who only wanted to do the right thing for his adoptive country.
"He risked his life every day," the official said.
As the months passed, the men sold eight machine guns and assault weapons to the informant.
They also schemed to smuggle Russian weapons into the country, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers and Strela SA-7b surface-to-air shoulder-launched missiles.
According to Jane's, the respected defense authority, the missiles were used in the Vietnam and Arab-Israeli wars, resulting in the downing of dozens of aircraft.
Their simplicity "has also resulted in the widespread distribution of the weapon to various guerrilla and terrorist groups throughout the world," Jane's said.
The ringleaders, Artur Solomonyan, 26, an Armenian who lives in Brooklyn, and Christiaan Dewet Spies, 33, a South African, were busted in a Battery Park City hotel as they prepared to leave for Eastern Europe to carry out the shipment of the arms, authorities said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The arms merchants and FBI informant talked about weapons in code — calling weapons "real estate" and rocket-propelled grenade launchers "fliers."
---
Why would the FBI go into this much detail? I hate it when all this stuff gets out in the press.
Why are they showing a picture of a guy never mentioned in the story?
There's always a reason.
I swear this sounds like a BAD novel!
This is so troubling. It seems that we just got lucky in this case, since our porous borders and leaky ports allow almost anything to pass through.
So Hillary failed again.
Written by George Gobbels{sp?}
Hillary's dark skinned? :0)
The same reason Secret Service reveals that Chelsea Clinton's codename was Turquoise.
Codes are constantly changing. Only the dumbest organizations uses the same codes over and over.
NY Post stories have to be excerpted in 300 words......go to the source for the over 1000 word story.
>>>Why would the FBI go into this much detail?
I think the code words are way too different every time.
In Lackawanna, the bomb was called a watermelon. In the Missile Sting in NJ the weapons were called shoes and dental supplies.
So I think the code words are irrelevant outside of each specific case.
Been there, done that :~ )
^"Are your friends dark-skinned?" the men asked, referring to radical Muslims.^
Racist! Racist!
More seriously, have you noticed that, although we're not allowed to racially profile terrorists, they profile each other?
EEEEK!!
Don't even go there! ;)
So I think the code words are irrelevant outside of each specific case.
---
Right. But just stating the fact that FBI informants are adept at using the lingo is, it seems to me, a relatively pointless and needless action that will only make the job of future informers more dangerous. It adds nothing to the story anyway.
I've seen this 'blathering' worse in other cases, this isn't so much of a big deal, but still the pattern is troubling.
For example, just last week there was a story about some FBI agent who was so adept at infiltrating the mob that he was about to be 'made' by the mob. The story bragged that the FBI informer was able to do his whole act without even committing a crime. Now, having that in the newspaper is just stupid, cuz what is the next mobster going to do - require people to committ crimes and therby endagering potential informants if they refuse.
I guess there's no PC protocol among thieves.....(/sarc).
>>>Right. But just stating the fact that FBI informants are adept at using the lingo is, it seems to me, a relatively pointless and needless action that will only make the job of future informers more dangerous. It adds nothing to the story anyway.
Oh, I have one even better. The Star Ledger printed the FBI informant's name AND picture in the paper when they wrote up about the NJ Missile sting.
So, if they give away identities, why not code words.
No kidding!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.