FBI agent to testify in case against accused arms dealer (shoulder-launched missile plot)

NEWARK -- A bail hearing for a man facing terrorism charges in an alleged missile-smuggling plot was postponed yesterday so that prosecutors could present a witness to bolster accusations that the defense claimed were vague.

Meanwhile, defendant Hemant Lakhani will remain held without bail. The hearing was set to resume next Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie said yesterday that Lakhani confessed after his arrest and is heard on more than 150 covertly recorded conversations and seen in some videotapes, at one point actually handling a missile he believed was sought by a terrorist group to shoot down a U.S. airliner.

Defense lawyer Alan L. Zegas argued that much of the information in the FBI complaint was hearsay. Christie said an FBI agent would testify.

Christie asserted that Lakhani waived his Miranda rights and confessed after his arrest.

The complaint shows that Lakhani is a danger to the public and is likely to flee, said Christie, adding that the suspect is a British citizen who travels extensively and whose worldwide business contacts have the ability to send money around the globe.

Lakhani, 68, of London, was arrested with two others Aug. 12 and charged with trying to provide material support to terrorists and dealing arms without a license.

Prosecutors said Lakhani tried to sell 50 shoulder-fired missiles to an undercover agent posing as a Muslim terrorist bent on shooting down a U.S. airliner.

Televised news reports raised critical questions b/c when he was arrested in the plot to kill Americans and undermine the US economy, Lakhani claimed he was indigent and could not afford a lawyer. But at his bail hearing, reporters wondered why Lakhani turned up with not one, not two, but three high-powered (and high-paid) lawyers, to defend him.

Another suspect, the only American charged in the missile plot, Yehuda Abraham, a wealthy New York gem dealer who owns jewelry stores around the world, was released on $10 million bail, but is required to wear an electronic device to monitor his movements.

Authorities said Abraham and Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, a 38-year-old citizen of India who, the government said, arrived in the New York area from Malaysia, were enlisted to help manage the financial arrangements for the arms deal. Both men were charged with conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Illegal money-transfers are said to be the favored MO of terrorists since the subrosa financing is conducted underground out of sight of banking procedures that leave paper trails.

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