Reuters, UK
March 15 2005
U.S. Arrests 17 in Plot to Smuggle Weapons
Tue Mar 15, 2005 02:55 PM ET
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. authorities have arrested 17 people in a
FBI sting operation on charges of planning to smuggle Russian
military arms, including rocket-propelled grenade launchers and
shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles.
The arrests came after a year-long wiretap investigation that used a
confidential FBI informant posing as an arms trafficker looking for
weapons to sell to terrorists, including al-Qaeda, the U.S.
Attorney’s office said on Tuesday.
“It appears that the defendants were planning to obtain that weaponry
through contacts they had developed in Eastern European military
circles,” prosecutor David Kelley said.
Arrests were made on Monday night and Tuesday morning in Los Angeles,
Miami and New York, court officials said. One more person is wanted
on charges was still at large, they said.
The complaint filed in Manhattan’s federal court cited alleged
Armenian ringleader Artur Solomonyan, 26, and South African
Christiaan Dewet Spies, 33, and three others for conspiring to
transport destructive devices.
Thirteen others were charged with supplying Solomonyan and Spies
machine guns and other assault weapons, which were then sold to the
informant.
“Today’s case represents the termination of illegal activity by
several arms traffickers … and has disrupted a potential overseas
pipeline for dangerous military weaponry to come into the hands of
civilians or even terrorists,” Kelley said.
“We are now working with our counterparts overseas to secure the
weapons and to bring to justice conspirators who may be abroad.”
The scheme included attempts to smuggle rocket-propelled grenade
launchers and shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, which experts
have warned attackers might use to down a plane.
Kelley said there was discussion between the informant and the
traffickers about bringing in enriched uranium, but there was no
evidence in more than 15,000 recorded conversations that they could
actually supply it.
Solomonyan and Spies each face a maximum of 30 years in prison.