18 charged with smuggling Russian military weapons

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.nynewsday.com/news/local/crime/nyc-smuggle0315,0,6501955.story?coll=nyc-homepage-breaking2

U.S. authorities have charged 18 people with weapons trafficking, including an alleged scheme to smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian military weapons into the country.

The arrests resulted from a year-long wiretap investigation that used a confidential informant posing as an arms trafficker selling weapons to terrorists, the office of U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said Tuesday.

Kelley said in a statement that the defendants also are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to traffick in machine guns and other assault weapons, and with selling eight such weapons during the investigation.

more

[NNN0LHI]

1. "Officials say there are no clear ties to any terrorist"

http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/news/wabc_031505_smugglingbust.html

<snip>Now the FBI says they recorded 15000 conversations during that year long investigation. Officials say there are no clear ties to any terrorist, the dealers were just looking to sell to the highest bidders. Those charged face anywhere from 15 to 30 years in prison if convicted.

These guy obviously were not Muslims or even dark skinned people. But I bet Freerepublic was short a few members this morning though.

[bemildred]

2. Probably for defending pot plantations and the like.

Just good, honest free enterprise requiring a bit of protection.

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. U.S. charges 18 in weapons-smuggling plot

Mar 15, 2005

NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. authorities charged 18 people 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, which took investigators to South Africa, Armenia and the Georgian Republic, also included wiretaps on seven phones and interceptions of more than 15,000 calls, according to prosecutors, the FBI and police.

The informant, an explosives expert, contacted the FBI after he was approached by a man who said he had access to weapons from the former Soviet Union and believed the informant could find a willing buyer, federal prosecutors said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WEAPONS_SMUGGLING?SITE=FLPET&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT


Glad they were all from 'friendly' countries.

[Nickster]

4. Is it just me or does this story sound oddly familiar?

Isn't every few months we get another story of an FBI sting on people selling weapons to terra-ists? Then we find out that they weren't really selling to terra-ists, then we find out all charges have been dropped? Is this scam the newest version of terra alerts?

Another thing I thought when I saw this. Wouldn't it be a heck of a lot easier to get weapons domestically then trying to smuggle them in from foreign countries for re-sale? As an arms dealer, I'd try to push these larger weapons in third world countries, much less heat that way. Dunno, something just doesn't add up to me.