WASHINGTON, August 13, 2003
CNN
A man who authorities say plotted to sell a surface-to-air
missile to what he thought was a Muslim extremist
is expected to appear in a New Jersey courtroom today
after being nabbed with two others Tuesday in an elaborate
FBI sting operation.
The arrests came at the end of a yearlong undercover
operation in which U.S. agents, aided by Russian officials,
posed as Muslim extremists to buy the missile, U.S.
government sources said Tuesday.
The weapon arrived from Russia Tuesday afternoon
at a port in Newark, New Jersey, with the full knowledge
and cooperation of U.S. officials.
Officials said undercover agents received the weapon
and arrested the man, identified by a senior U.S.
government source as Hekmat Lakhani.
Lakhani, a British citizen of Indian descent, is
an independent arms dealer who has sold weapons to
terrorist cells, Muslim extremists, and "rogue
nations," according to a source close to the
investigation.
Later in the day, authorities arrested two Manhattan
gem dealers who law enforcement sources said were
thought to be the "money launderers" in
the case, taking care of the cash between the buyer
and the seller.
Shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles have raised
concern among government and security officials because
their portability makes them easy to use against commercial
airliners.
The Department of Homeland Security estimates there
are 750,000 shoulder-fired missiles in the world,
and they are easy to obtain on the black market.
Each missile weighs about 30 to 40 pounds (13.6 to
18.1 kilograms) and could fit inside a golf bag, counterterrorism
expert Brian Jenkins told CNN.
While sources could not give a dollar amount for
the missile involved in the sting, they estimated
it would probably sell for about $100,000. (Factfile)
Russians, British aided sting
U.S. government sources said the sting operation began
after U.S. agents learned of Lakhani, who advertised
his ability to buy missiles.
After U.S. agents posing as Muslim extremists approached
Lakhani, he made inquiries in Russia about purchasing
a missile, the sources said.
Russian authorities became involved and posed undercover
with the U.S. agents in several meetings with Lakhani
in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the sources said.
With U.S. approval, the Russians provided Lakhani
with a Russian-made shoulder-launched SA-18 Igla missile,
several U.S. government sources said.
Lakhani arranged for the missile to be shipped to
the United States, without explosives, with full knowledge
of the United States, the sources said.
Lakhani arrived over the weekend to complete the
cash transaction, those sources said. He was expected
in federal court in Newark Wednesday around 10 a.m.
The other men will appear in federal court in Manhattan.
Besides the Russians, the British also played a large
role in the sting, U.S. government sources said. Search
warrants in the case were executed Tuesday in Britain,
but it was unclear what they yielded, the sources
said.
The two gem dealers worked at an office called Ambuy,
located on the 12th floor of a building on Fifth Avenue
in Manhattan's jewelry exchange district, officials
said.
One eyewitness said he watched about a dozen FBI
agents Tuesday afternoon carry out 32 pieces of evidence,
including boxes and filing cabinets.
Failed attempt a 'wake-up call'
A failed attempt in November to shoot down an Israeli
charter jet with a shoulder-fired missile as it took
off from the airport in Mombasa, Kenya, was a "wake-up
call" for U.S. intelligence agencies, several
officials said, underscoring the vulnerability of
airliners.
The attempt occurred within minutes of an al Qaeda-claimed
suicide bombing at a nearby Israeli-owned hotel that
killed more than a dozen people, and authorities believe
both attacks were coordinated.
The Department of Homeland Security has asked eight
government contractors to come up with plans for anti-missile
technology that could be put on airliners to prevent
a missile strike.
An interagency task force likewise has been assessing
additional security measures that can be taken at
airports, such as fencing.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the sting
proved the threat to commercial airliners from shoulder-fired
missiles "is no longer theoretical."
"The fact that DHS is planning to take at least
two years to develop a missile defense prototype to
outfit the U.S. commercial fleet verges on the dangerous,"
said Schumer, who is sponsoring legislation to put
anti-missile technology on the U.S. airliners.
"The White House ought to be providing Homeland
Security with the money it needs to begin protecting
civilian aircraft with jamming devices immediately,
before it's too late," he said.
The Bush administration is trying to stem the proliferation
of the missiles by encouraging other nations to better
control their inventories and by reinstituting buyback
programs in some high-risk countries.
The Department of Homeland Security also has been
evaluating about a dozen overseas airports to determine
their vulnerability to attacks with shoulder-fired
missiles. (Full story)
CNN correspondents David Ensor, Jeanne Meserve,
Deborah Feyerick and Kelli Arena and producers Kevin
Bohn, Ronnie Berke and Vivienne Foley contributed
to this report.
