Posted on 11/09/2005 5:27:06 PM PST by Libloather
Feds Indict 2 in Missile-Smuggling Scheme
47 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - A federal grand jury indicted two men Wednesday for allegedly conspiring to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States for use abroad. Such missiles are designed to bring down aircraft.
The U.S. attorney's office said the charges marked the first time a 2004 anti-terrorism law has been used. The law calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted.
Chao Tung Wu, 51, and Yi Qing Chen, 41, are naturalized U.S. citizens born in China, authorities said. The conspiracy did not involve domestic terrorists, and the two men were told by an undercover agent that the missiles would be sent abroad, said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
The indictment specified that bribes, including one for $2 million, were to be paid to certain foreign officials. Authorities declined to identify the countries involved.
Gerson Horn, an attorney for Wu, said an undercover agent had tried to buy weapons from Wu and that Chen was allegedly involved in the negotiations. He said the agent "initiated the negotiations and persisted in the negotiations but it never bore fruit ... with either one of them."
He said his client was innocent and that the case was "conceived, nurtured and orchestrated by the undercover agent, who worked this case for a number of years."
Horn also said no weapons or weapons components changed hands.
An attorney for Chen did not immediately return a call for comment.
The men have been in custody since August when they were arrested as part of a federal undercover probe into smuggling in Southern California. They were originally charged with conspiring 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.
But, but, but, but, the Chinese are our friends. We get all our stuff from them...we fast track trade deals with them...we let them run over democracy advocates with tanks...and let them bring down our aircraft....they are our pals. How could this be.
(toweling off the dripping sarcasm)'"'"""'
JEDI
The way I read this, my best understanding is that foreign missiles were being smuggled into the US for use by US forces against foreign enemies in a foreign land.
My understanding of the original story was instead that the former PRC nationals who were naturalized here in the US were stealing US weapons tech. That they were attempting to export this US weapons tech out of the US, to be used by the PRC.
"are naturalized U.S. citizens born in China"
Immigrants arrived legally and are a danger to this country
and yet Presdent Bush wants to allow over 300,000 more into this country, not to mention the ones entering ILLEGALLY AND the illegals already here, now don't you feel safe and protected?
How would slowing (not stopping, but slowing) immigration and cracking down on illegals be xenophobic? If anything, doing this would expedite the process for high quality immigrants by lowering the overall volume. Yes, that is a value judgement. I am proud of it. I am married to a high quality immigrant.
Well, now I'm really confused.
Are they drug dealers, terrorists, or military/industrial spys?
Or were these weapons smugglers a bit dim and reckless, and were using US territory merely as a pass-through venue, with the ultimate weapons end users being non-US nationals in some unmentioned 3rd country?
It's jumbled.
Sounds like they were wishful thinkers...Gov't agents tried to convince them for years to sell them something, anything...
Almost sounds like entrapment...
Indeed, I'd like to know the real story. This one didn't make a lot of sense.
By the way, welcome to America.
Are your feelings hurt?
Another immigrant heard from attacking a CITIZEN of America Born&raised! Your attitude PROVES my point!!
Many Chinese students are sent here to schools like MIT and CalTech and Harvard to steal technical secrets/innovations, and relatives back home probably get a quid pro quo.
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.