Suspect in weapons smuggling case extradited to United States

AP Worldstream
Apr 18, 2005

An Armenian man suspected of playing a role in a weapons smuggling plot
has been extradited to the United States, the U.S. embassy said Monday.

Armen Barseghyan, who was flown to the United States on Friday, will
appear in court this week, along with 20 others who have also been
indicted in this case, the embassy said in a statement.

U.S. authorities last month charged 18 people in an alleged scheme to
smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian
military weapons into the United States. Officials said the arrests
resulted from a year-long investigation in which an FBI informant
posed as an arms buyer who claimed to have ties to al-Qaida.

Another Armenian, Artur Solomonyan, was arrested March 14 at a New
York hotel after meeting one last time with the informant to finalize
plans before leaving the country to obtain the weapons, according
to a criminal complaint unsealed last month in U.S. District Court
in Manhattan.

The case took investigators to South Africa, Armenia and Georgia.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress