Missile Plot - Briton Arrested on Suspicion of Planning to Smuggle Missile Into U.S

ABC News ^ | 8/12/03

[areafiftyone]

A British citizen has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a plot to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States, ABCNEWS has learned.

The man was arrested in Newark, N.J., this morning as part of an international sting pulled off by the FBI, British and Russian authorities. Other arrests are under way.

The person arrested allegedly sought to smuggle a Russian-made surface-to-air missile into the country and believed he was selling missiles to would-be terrorists, sources said. The name of the person has not been disclosed

[Eurotwit]

They just broke off regular programming on the BBC World .(Hey.. it's the only news channel I've got access to :-)


They said the plot involved a plan to kill the Preseident by shooting down Air Force One. Unfortunately for the British arms dealer his "arab" contact turned out to be an FBI agent.

[areafiftyone]

They just broke off regular programming on the BBC World .(Hey.. it's the only news channel I've got access to :-)

My heartfelt condolences!! ;-)

[ElectricStrawberry]

The name of the person has not been disclosed

...and I wonder why....hmmmmmmm....could it be.....Muhammad al Mooselim?

[Dog]

What the hell???

Angel........look at post 2!

[mystery-ak]

Shoot down our President....!!!

[Dog]

That would be a huge mistake.....the gloves would be off forever......the world would witness an AMERICAN JIHAD!!!!

[Eurotwit]

apparently the missile/missiles was already succesfully smuggled into the US as medical supplies and was stored somewhere in Baltimore.

They said a large press conference should be coming up..

Other than that they are moaning about how unfortunate it is that this story will reflect badly on muslims. The BBC :-)

[mallardx]

We need to bring these people to quick trial and hang them in public. This is the only message that will work.

[Shermy]

Baltimore - another Paracha connection.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Here.

[Dog]

Hey thanks for the updates...

[Dog]

Shermy who is Paracha??

[r9etb]

Hmmmmm. Any word yet on possible Islamic connections?

I mean, we're all assuming as much, but it would be good to have confirmation.

[Brad’s Gramma]

#8 seems to imply that...as far as the BBC is concerned.

[Alouette]

The name of the person has not been disclosed

It's Captain Hook!

[Ex-Dem]

Air Force One has pretty sophisticated anti-missile countermeasures. It's probably more likely that they were targetting commercial airliners.

[ChadGore]

< liberal logic > "Let's get the guy who did this on Oprah, so he can 'educate' us on how to change how foreign policy, so as not to drive him to commit these acts in the future." < / liberal logic >

[mewzilla]

Other than that they are moaning about how unfortunate it is that this story will reflect badly on muslims. The BBC :-)

Grrrrrrrr......

[jimbo123]

From BBC:

British arms dealer arrested in US


A Briton has been arrested after a suspected plot to supply a lethal surface-to-air missile to terrorists.
Western intelligence officials have confirmed to the BBC it was a multinational sting operation, involving agents from the US, Russia and Britain.

It resulted in the arrest of a British arms dealer at Newark in New Jersey on Tuesday.

Officials say he successfully imported a Russian Igla missile into the US and believed he was selling it to an Muslim extremist.

But his buyer was an undercover FBI agent and the arms dealer's voice is heard on tape saying he wanted the missile to be used to shoot down a large passenger plane.

The FBI have denied that the plane in question was Airforce One, the US President's official aircraft.

Although no actual terrorists are thought to have been involved in the operation, intelligence officials said it was a terrifying illustration of the vulnerability of Western nations to attack by extremists.

Over the last 15 months, there have been three foiled attempts by groups linked to al-Qaeda to shoot down planes carrying Western or Israeli passengers.

BBC correspondent Tom Mangold said the man bought one for $85,000 from a Russian factory and was promised another 50.

He said: "It may not have happened, but when the dealer says he wants to bring down Airforce One, it's pretty dispiriting."

He added the sting demonstrated "fantastic" cooperation between the US, Russia and Britain.

Washington officials are remaining tight-lipped about the operation but admitted there had been an arrest.