Terror charges for UK arms dealer
From Ronni Berke
CNN
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Lakhani, pictured at the time of his arrest in August.
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NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) -- The British arms dealer arrested in August in a missile-smuggling plot was indicted Thursday on charges that he offered to procure a variety of anti-aircraft weapons, tanks and radar systems, as well as an explosive device known as a "dirty bomb."
Hemant Lakhani, 68, of London, is alleged to have told an investigator that the shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles that were being imported into the United States "could be used most effectively in terrorist attacks against commercial aircraft in the United States if 10 to 15 commercial aircraft were shot down simultaneously at different locations throughout the country," the indictment says.
Lakhani's attorney, Henry S. Klingeman, said Thursday that his client "was induced to participate in the scheme after the [government's] informant lured him in with the prospect of making a lot of money."
Klingeman said Lakhani, whom he describes as a Hindu entrepreneur, has absolutely no ties to terrorist groups and has never been politically or religiously active in the 40 years he's lived in London with his family.
"If the government has not approached him, he would be sitting in London selling women's clothing," Klingeman said.
Prosecutors say they have numerous video and audio tapes that prove their case.
Lakhani agreed to detention without bail in September.
Lakhani is charged with providing material support for terrorism and arms dealing without a license. The charge followed an 18-month collaboration among officials in the United States, Russia and Britain.
According to federal prosecutors, he boasted of sales to terrorist groups and thought he had struck a deal to sell a missile to a Somali group seeking to launch a "jihad" against a U.S. commercial airline.
He tried to sell the group 200 missiles, and later insisted 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.
If convicted, Lakhani could be sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Separate criminal complaints were filed against Yehuda Abraham, 75, a New York jeweler, and Moinuddeen Ahmed Hameed, 38, an Indian citizen who arrived in the United States last month from Malaysia. Prosecutors said both men served as financial middlemen for the deal.
