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Note: The following text is a quote: Arms Trafficker Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Plot to Smuggle Shoulder-Fired Surface-to-Air Missiles, Rocket-Propelled Grenades, and Other Military Weapons LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that CHRISTIAAN SPIES, a leader of an international arms trafficking operation, was sentenced today to 20 years in prison for plotting to smuggle shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles ("SAMs"), rocket-propelled grenades ("RPGs"), anti-tank guided missiles, and other high-powered military weapons into the United States for sale. United States District Judge RICHARD J. HOLWELL imposed the sentence today in...

NEW YORK -- An Armenian immigrant accused of plotting to sell military weapons to an FBI informant posing as an arms dealer went on trial Wednesday with a prosecutor saying he was greedy for a fast buck and his defense lawyer saying he merely wanted a green card. Artur Solomonyan and five others were accused of agreeing to obtain deadly weapons from those who knew what happened to weapons in the former Soviet Union, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Massey said. "The defendants saw these deadly weapons as a way to make a quick buck," Massey said. An indictment accused Solomonyan...