U.S. Jew among 3 nabbed in plot to smuggle missile

Reuters ^ | August 13, 2003

[Selmo]

NEWARK, New Jersey - An American Jew was among three suspects nabbed for allegedly attempting to smuggle a missile to terror groups operating inside the United States in order to down commercial aircraft.

But the smuggling attempt was in fact a sting operation orchestrated over the past 18 months by U.S., Russian and British authorities.

Terrorism-related charges were leveled on Wednesday against a British arms dealer who praised Osama bin Laden and thought he was smuggling into the United States missiles, federal prosecutors announced.

Two other suspected accomplices to the plot, inlcuding Yehuda Abraham, who is Jewish, face conspiracy charges, the prosecutors said.

"This morning, the terrorists who threatened America lost an ally in their quest to kill our citizens," U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie told a news conference on the plaza of the federal courthouse in Newark, New Jersey.

Moments earlier, two of the three suspects appeared before a federal magistrate amid tight security at the courthouse, where authorities spelled out charges against them.

Hemant Lakhani, identified as a well-known British arms dealer, was accused of providing material support to terrorists and of illegal weapons dealing, Christie said.

A second man, Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, was charged with illegally transmitting money to help finance the plot, Christie said. A third, Abraham, was due to appear later on Wednesday in federal court in New York on similar charges.

Lakhani was arrested on Tuesday in Newark after trying to sell a Russian-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile to FBI informants posing as extremists who wanted to shoot down a large commercial airliner, officials said.

The missile was intended "specifically for the purpose of shooting an American airliner out of the sky," Christie said.

Meanwhile in London, police said they searched two sites at the request of U.S. authorities in the sting operation. No arrests were made, and officials declined to say where they were carried out.

Lakhani, wearing a rumpled striped shirt, bowed his head and said nothing during his court appearance. A lawyer representing Lakhani later declined to comment to reporters.

The charge of providing support to terrorists carries a possible 15-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine, while the weapons charges could mean 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

Lakhani and Hameed were each given a court date for later this month to determine if they might be released on bail.

According to a criminal complaint, the sting began in December 2001, when officials learned about Lakhani from an informant.

They used the unidentified informant to contact Lakhani, a British citizen born in India, and investigators said they audiotaped and videotaped 150 conversations between the two men. Lakhani made a number of anti-U.S. remarks during those talks, it said.

"He on many occasions referred to Americans as bastards (and) Osama bin laden as a hero who had done something right and set the Americans straight," Christie said. Bin Laden's al Qaeda group is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"Mr. Lakhani knew full well what he was doing, why he was doing it, and ... he very clearly expressed his sentiments toward this country and its citizens," he said.

The informant pretended to Lakhani that he represented a Somali group that wanted to purchase an anti-aircraft missile, the complaint said. The Somali group told Lakhani they would pay $85,000 for a sample missile and promised to purchase 50 more later.

The complaint said Lakhani told the informant "ours is a much higher quality" surface-to-air missile that those were fired in November 2002 at an Israeli passenger plane taking off from Mombasa, Kenya, but did not hit the aircraft.

The third suspect, Abraham, took a $30,000 partial payment on behalf of Lakhani, it said.

Another payment of $500,000, which the U.S. Attorney said was 10 percent of the price, was in the works to purchase the additional missiles.

Hameed, who is from Malaysia, was only brought into the scheme in the last couple days to handle the larger payment, but money never changed hands, it said.

Russian authorities who worked in the sting provided an inert missile that was shipped to the United States. Lakhani was arrested when he tried to retrieve it at a Newark hotel, authorities said.

[Honorary Serb]

Are you sure that he isn't a convert to islam, like the fifth columnist Stephen Schwartz aka Suleyman Ahmad?

[DPB101]

I wish we would have been a little more patient and not arrested these people so soon . . .I'm wondering what was the rush?

Our friends at the BBC got the story. The Brits, the FBI and the Russian FSB are not amused. Hope they find the rat and put him away for life.

[George W. Bush]

There was a movie a few years ago, about Baghdad, I think. And a US president stuck in some diner..

It was so bad that even "Made For HBO" wasn't adequate warning. Given that nearly all the nuke war movies are schlock drivel, that one was especially low. The movie did portray the U.S. presidency and his top staff (NSC, military) as total boobs and idiots. A typical Hollywood Lefty hit piece.

[FreedomSurge]

Is this what I get, irrational spewing? I would expect better from an uneducated Arab. Wait until the vein in your forehead disappears then try re reading the thread.

[George W. Bush]

I wonder if this sting was intended specifically to lure an 'arms dealer' into a news-making transaction specifically to drum up a War On Terrorism event.

I don't see much indication in this and other reports that there was any particular interest in peddling missiles to terrorists until he was lured into thinking he had buyers for his missiles.

The circumstances indicate the possibility that this is a case of entrapment that serves political ends.

The Brits and the Russians would have reasons of their to cooperate in this venture.

[Brian S]

Perhaps this article is of interest to you:



Analysts say missile sting more effective as PR event than as serious blow to arms trade

STEVE GUTTERMAN, Associated Press Writer Wednesday, August 13, 2003

---

(08-13) 09:42 PDT MOSCOW (AP) --

The sting that netted a Briton for allegedly trying to sell a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile in New Jersey was more a chance to show off cooperation among former Cold War foes than a sign of real progress in halting the black market in such weapons, Russian analysts said Wednesday.

The chief spokesman for the Russian Federal Security Service called the arrest a "new stage in cooperation" among the secret services of the United States, Russia and Britain, the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass reported.

Sergei Ignatchenko said in Washington that the improved intelligence ties are bringing "positive results" in efforts to stop the activities of criminal groups involved in illegal arms sales, ITAR-Tass said.

But Yevgeny Volk, head of the Moscow office of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, said the arrest would do little to dent the illegal trade in portable Russian-made missiles capable of downing jetliners. He said it was "a very big business and a very profitable one."

The arrest "demonstrates the cooperation of the secret services, but from the point of view of stopping the flow of these weapons, it is not so effective," Volk said.

He said it would be hard to make serious inroads into illicit sales of shoulder-fired missiles, in part because of corruption in Russia's defense industry.

"There are hundreds of such missiles made in Russia, and it's difficult to trace them," Volk said.

An independent military analyst, Pavel Felgenhauer, also dismissed the arrest.

He told Associated Press Television News that Russia's government is serious about cracking down on illegal arms deals. But he said the sting wasn't a good example of that because the alleged seller appeared to be a bit player while "on the black and gray market hundreds of such weapons change hands."

Felgenhauer also said that despite some improvement in cooperation, there is still plenty of distrust between the secret services of Russia and the United States. "Basically, they are still enemies," he said.

The operation, which came ahead of a summit expected this fall between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin, struck a tone of accord on weapons proliferation, an issue that has been a source of disputes between the two countries despite improved relations.

The United States is concerned about Russian cooperation with Iran's nuclear program and it accused Russian companies of providing weapons to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.

But Putin, who was a KGB agent during the Cold War, threw his support behind the U.S. fight against terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks and has repeatedly said that battling terror and arms proliferation are areas where cooperation with the West is crucial to world security.

Volk said the missile sting was probably just "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of cooperation between U.S. and Russian intelligence. He said most of the joint work is likely kept quiet, but he thinks the two governments felt a need "to show they are closely cooperating in combatting terrorism and the illegal arms trade."

[fightu4it]

What exactly was Yehuda Abrhams' motive for his actions?

[Rodney King]

Remember that Mohammad had close contact to Jewish tribes and borrowed most of his religion from his understanding of the religious practices of these tribes. The Jews were integral in the Moorish occupation of Spain. It should come as no suprise that at least some Jews are siding themselves with Islam against the United States.

Man, there has just been some crazy posts on FR the last few days. Yours is one of them. Yesterday we were treated to donh's enlightened commentary that the problem with Jews today is that they don't hate christians enough.

So you really think there is a single Jew alive today who would side with Al Qaeda based upon what happend in Spain hundreds of years ago?

So some piece of crap guy who happens to be a Jew wanted to profit off of terrorism - what does that have to do with Jews as a whole? Absolutley nothing.

[George W. Bush]

Nice find. I doubt we'll ever really know the details. But the Russians want our help (and to look the other way) on the Chechnya business. And certainly, there have been instances of top political leadership cooperating with each other in order to boost their own ratings at home. Even during the Soviet era.

One has to wonder what a really pro-American Russia would like. If that's actually possible to imagine. Certainly, the combination would be formidable. Personally, I'd favor that over deepening our ties with China and India.

[Fred Mertz]

You were on top of this yesterday and the night before, Betty Jo. Great work!

[Cachelot]

Is this what I get, irrational spewing? I would expect better from an uneducated Arab

Hmmm... this is your original question, irrational as it may be:

Do you think the Arabs were smart enough to come up with anti Israeli philosophical arguments that Israel hating liberals and Europeans would swallow so completely?

So tell me, do you think Arabs (who are mostly rabid and drooling antisemites) would manage to come up with arguments that Israeli-hating liberals and Europeans (who are mostly rabid and drooling antisemites) would swallow?

Now, think about what you asked. If your head gets warm, it's just because you're doing something unusual. It's nothing to worry about, at least as long as your hair don't catch fire.

Wait until the vein in your forehead disappears then try re reading the thread.

Actually, my vascular system is permament. You can't have vessels in your head just go away, or disappear, if you're to have a good blood supply to the brain.

Did yours disappear? Doesn't that make you kinda dim? Do you have to eat fish to compensate?

[FreedomSurge]

So you really think there is a single Jew alive today who would side with Al Qaeda based upon what happend in Spain hundreds of years ago?

No I was just pointing out that historically the Jews were (up until 1948) alot more comfortable with Islam then they were with Christianity. In Spain, many Jews actively sided with the Muslims against the Christians.

The degree of hatred of Christianity runs very deep amongst Jews and few Christians are aware of this current. The great part of the donh's postings is that he does not hide his hatred.

I would assert that most Jews blame Christianity for the holocoust. Some slightly, some totally. Based on this why wouldn't some (hopefully not a great number) side with Islam against Christianity?

[FreedomSurge]

" So tell me, do you think Arabs (who are mostly rabid and drooling antisemites) would manage to come up with arguments that Israeli-hating liberals and Europeans (who are mostly rabid and drooling antisemites) would swallow? "

No. The arguments they used were created at Hebrew University.

After all: "For thirty five years an entire people, some three and a half million in number, have been held without basic human rights. The occupation and oppression of another people have brought the State of Israel to where it is today."

"at least as long as your hair don't catch fire."

The joke is on you buddy. I have no hair.

[Betty Jo]

Thank you Freddy!

Every one should go read the other FR thread about this.I stayed up hours searching.

My latest find is

http://www.guardian.co.uk/armstrade/story/0,10674,1018257,00.html

It should be remembered that Yehuda Abraham owns
"Ambuy", the jewelry company that has a store in the Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Sheraton Hotel.

Bin Laden has/had a huge mining/jewelry/textile empire.

This is either a HUGH story that is really SERIES,or it is truly BUSH BS,designed to divert!

[RusIvan]

Felgenhauer also said that despite some improvement in cooperation, there is still plenty of distrust between the secret services of Russia and the United States. "Basically, they are still enemies," he said. ===

Why I stumble on his guy Felgengauer in each second article about Russia?
In Russia he is one of hundereds of "jornalugs" as they are called in Russia who pretend that he know something but in reality he insinuates his article from his thumb.

He don't know nothing about what secret services think or does.

[RusIvan]

Sounds like the Russian mob has its fingers in this one. Conflict diamonds, professional arms dealers, Russian weapons.==

Consider that "Russian mob" in United States consists of former soviet jews and decendants. Ethnic russians are few in so called "russian mob".
I know that in US everyone from former Soviet Union is "russian" but it is not correct. They are "soviet" not "russian".

[Aaron0617]

The circumstances indicate the possibility that this is a case of entrapment that serves political ends. The Brits and the Russians would have reasons of their to cooperate in this venture.

<...sigh> Then why would the Russians go along with this 'venture'. Aren't they against the war etc. Why would they cooperate in this 'stunt' (which it seems like you're calling this) to help keep up Bush's poll numbers?

Are you a libertarian by chance? I've noticed this type of consistent criticism from you of Bush and the Administration?

Surprised you use the screen name 'George W. Bush'

[GOPJ]

bump

[tictoc]

Good comment.

[Cachelot]

No.

Rotfl. You truly don't get it, do you? Unable to follow even your own line. Amazing ;)).

The joke is on you buddy. I have no hair.

So you're a skinhead. I must tell you, I'm not surprised.