Posted on 11/09/2005 3:45:31 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal grand jury indicted two Southern California men Wednesday with conspiracy to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States. Such missiles are designed to bring down aircraft.
The U.S. attorney's office said the charges against Chao Tung Wu, 51, of La Puente and Yi Qing Chen, 41, of Rosemead marked the first time a 2004 anti-terrorism statute has been used. The statute calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted.
The men have been in custody since August when they were arrested as part of Operation Smoking Dragon, a federal undercover investigation into smuggling operations in Southern California. The men were originally charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and Ecstasy and importing millions of counterfeit cigarettes.
The men were previously ordered held without bond. An arraignment hearing on the new charges was scheduled for Monday.
"Today's indictment shows a willingness of the smugglers to acquire practically anything for importation, no matter how dangerous or destructive," U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang said in a statement.
Imagine that...Chinese bringing in terrorist weaponry.
After seeing the glitzy Communist Chinese multimedia presentation which glorified the 9/11 attacks, it does not surprise me in the least that Chinese individuals could be supporting possible al Qaeda activity.
Yet our government still keeps giving the Red Chinese Most Favored Nation trading status.
Some days I wonder if we can be sold out any faster...
Chinese muslims? Can't say for sure.....many chinese muslims have chinese names and not islamic names (unlike most muslims elsewhere)
And how did these people get here? Anyone know?
As punishment I think they should be chained to the missile and then have it launched.
Or tie them upside-down to the underside of a hot air balloon basket. After they have reached sufficient altitude, launch the missile.
Isnt it odd that the never catch anyone by the name of Smith or Jones doing this sort of thing?
Easy. There is no border and no one bothers to check out VISAs.
BG, they probably walked across the border. It works for everyone else, so they're just following the leader. Just because they had a few missiles didn't seem to matter! LOL We're the most powerful country in the world, and we can't even control our own borders. How pathetic is that?
Visions of Flight 800.
You beat me to it! I am going to have nightmares tonight.
I read somewhere on FR (a quick search failed) that the Chinese Gov't has issued a warning to tourists that there are credible threats of bombings in their 4 and 5 star hotels over the next several weeks by Muslim terrorists in and near Beijing. So it could be there are CHinese Muslims 8as there are Chinese Christians).
ping
Ah yes, the "model minority."
bttt
Has anyone heard how these perps made entry?
Just more government interference with Free Trade. [/s]
Actually, Their lawyer claims they were just returning the items Bill Clinton sold to Red China.
" Imagine that...Chinese bringing in terrorist weaponry."
This is clearly a cultural outrage. They were only going to use them to celebrate the Chinese New Year.
And the US also gives Russia money, while the Russians give Iran and Syria weapons that end up in the hands of the insurgents in Iraq.
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