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Hearing postponed for man caught in missile sale sting
NEW YORK (CNN) -- The detention hearing of a British man accused of trying to smuggle a shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile into the United States has been delayed a week. Hemant Lakhani is now scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Ronald Hedges at 10:30 a.m. EDT August 25 in Newark, New Jersey, said Mike Drewniak, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie. Christie will seek indefinite detention for Lakhani, who was charged last week with providing material support for terrorism and arms dealing without a license. Lakhani was arrested Tuesday in a sting operation that involved an 18-month collaboration among officials in the United States, Russia and Britain. Drewniak said the postponement came at the request of a defense attorney who sought more time to put together a potential bail package for the court to consider. Lakhani's attorney could not be immediately reached for comment. Bail hearings for two of Lakhani's alleged accomplices, Yehuda Abraham and Moinuddeen Hameed, are scheduled for Wednesday. A federal magistrate in New York has agreed to a restrictive $10 million bail package for Abraham, a wealthy 76-year-old Manhattan gemstone dealer. That bond, half of which would be secured with cash and property, is subject to review in Wednesday's court hearing. If released, Abraham would remain under house arrest with electronic monitoring. Abraham and Hameed are accused of laundering money for the deal. A law enforcement source close to the investigation said last week that Lakhani had been under surveillance for the past two years. During that time, the source said, Lakhani traveled to a number of countries and met with a number of individuals. Those contacts led U.S. officials to conclude he was a "significant" player in black-market arms dealing, the source said. The 68-year-old Lakhani, who was born in India, could face 25 years in prison if he is convicted on both counts against him. At his court appearance last week, Lakhani waived his right to hear the charges against him, and was ordered held without bail until Monday's hearing, now delayed by a week. According to federal prosecutors, the Lakhani boasted of sales to terrorist groups and thought he had struck a deal to sell a missile to a Somali group looking to launch a "jihad" against a U.S. commercial airline. He tried to sell the group 200 missiles, and insisted that they buy 50 after they received the first one, priced at $85,000. The man claiming to represent the Somali group was instead a cooperating witness for the United States. The missile Lakhani brought into the country was a dud and the undercover Russian authorities who sold it to him were in on the plan. CNN correspondents Deborah Feyerick and Jeanne Meserve and producers Laura Dolan and Phil Hirschkorn contributed to this story.
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