Armenia eager to help U.S. stop alleged smuggling
.c The Associated Press
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) – Armenian government authorities are prepared
to do whatever they can to help the United States investigate alleged
weapons smuggling, a presidential spokesman said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, U.S. authorities charged 18 people, including several
Armenians, in an alleged scheme to smuggle grenade launchers,
shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian military weapons into the
United States.
The arrests resulted from a yearlong investigation in which an FBI
informant posed as an arms buyer who claimed to have ties to al-Qaida.
The case took investigators to Armenia and neighboring Georgia as well
as South Africa, and featured photographs, apparently taken somewhere
in Armenia, showing weapons including anti-tank missiles, a Russian
missile launcher and an anti-tank rifle, law enforcement officials in
the United States said.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian’s spokesman, Viktor Sogomonyan,
said Armenian law enforcement authorities have no concrete information
about weapons smuggling from Armenia and “are interested in
investigating and bringing to justice members of this criminal
group.”
According to a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in
Manhattan, an informant met two of the defendants, Artur Solomonyan
and Christiaan Dewet Spies, on several occasions in New York to
discuss the weapons deals.
Solomonyan, who faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted, is an
Armenian citizen living in New York and Los Angeles. Armenia’s
National Security Service said Wednesday that he has been wanted by
police in Armenia since 2001 on suspicion of avoiding military
service.
03/16/05 16:46 EST
