Posted on 08/13/2003 2:27:39 PM PDT by knighthawk
WASHINGTON: American federal authorities on Tuesday arrested a Briton of Indian origin who was attempting to sell a surface-to-air missile to undercover FBI agents posing as terrorist sympathizers wanting to attack targets in the United States.
The British man, whose name is said to be Hemad Lakhani, was taken into custody at a hotel hear Newark International Airport in New Jersey following an elaborate multi-country sting operation involving authorities in US, Russia and Britain.
Also arrested were two New York gem dealers who transferred money overseas to the suspect through hawala transactions in connection with the deal. Their identities were not disclosed.
People of Indian origin are many in New York’s diamond district, but according to one wire service account the dealers are of Pakistani and Afghan origin.
US officials said the men did not seem to be associated with any terrorist organization and appeared to be driven by money.
But the key suspect Lakhani procured a dummy Russian-made shoulder-fired SA-18 missile for undercover FBI agents – and promised more later --despite being led to believe the arms were was meant for al-Qaeda operatives who wanted to mount an attack against the United States.
The contact between Lakhani and the decoy buyers began in late 2001 but "really heated up last fall," according to unnamed sources cited in the New Jersey Star Ledger.
In taped conversations with the decoys, Lakhani is said to speak favourably of Osama bin Laden and praises the 9/11 attacks as “a good thing." In another tape, he tells his buyer that Americans are "bastards."
US officials are expected to produce the tapes as evidence after producing Lakhani, who is said to be middle-aged and born in India, in a federal court in Newark later on Wednesday. He is likely to face charges of weapons smuggling and material support of terrorism.
US officials have lately worried about terrorists bringing down low flying civilian passenger jet aircraft near airports with shoulder-fired missiles such as SAMs and Stingers. Worldwide there have been 29 missiles attacks on aircraft since 1978 but the fears have grown stronger in the post 9/11 scenario.
Early this year suspected al-Qaeda operatives fired two missiles at an Israeli charter flight taking off from Mombasa, Kenya, with 271 people aboard. The missiles missed their target, but the incident set off alarm bells in countries across the world that are victims of terrorism.
Despite the heightened alert the British-Indian arms broker reportedly bragged about his ability to procure and smuggle missiles and explosives into the United States.
US and Russian authorities who picked up the chatter then laid an elaborate sting operation that involved selling him a dummy SA-18 missile that he actually had shipped to Baltimore outside Washington.
The missile, a lightweight, shoulder-fired variety, can fit into a golf bag. It was shipped into Baltimore packaged as medical supplies.
US, Russian and British authorities who coordinated the sting kept track of the inert missile at all times. The FBI arrested the arms dealer on Tuesday morning after he flew into Newark to close the deal.
Very tough to differentiate between the two in that area. Most of them are converted or married into that religion. I know a few Moslem and Christians in that region, who converted to their religion 2 or 3 generations ago.
But weren't most Muslims of India/Pakistan forcibly converted from Hindu hundreds of year ago? To me the expression on his face and the way his hair looks, looks to me Muslim. But you undoubtedly know a lot more people from India/Pakistan
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