U.s. Charges 18 In Russian Weapons-smuggling Plot

[Artaxias]

Feds allege traffickers attempted to sell weapons to terrorists

From Phil Hirschkorn

CNN

Tuesday, March 15, 2005 Posted: 3:40 PM EST (2040 GMT)

 

 

U.S. Attorney David Kelley announces the charges Tuesday.

 

 

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Eighteen men have been charged with attempting to smuggle Russian-made military weapons into the United States, U.S. authorities said.

 

U.S. Attorney David Kelly announced the arrests Tuesday morning, saying the men charged had conspired to sell the weapons to terrorists, though the identity of the buyers was unclear.

 

The defendants were arrested late Monday and early Tuesday inside the United States, where they allegedly plotted the illegal sales.

 

The defendants are charged in a 63-page complaint with conspiring to traffic in machine guns and other weapons. The defendants allegedly sold eight automatic weapons to a confidential informant who posed as an arms trafficker.

 

"It appears the defendants were planning to obtain that weaponry through contacts they had developed in Eastern European military circles," said U.S. Attorney David Kelley at a news conference announcing the arrests.

 

"We are now working with our counterparts overseas to secure the weapons and to bring to justice conspirators who may be abroad."

 

The arrests resulted from a year-long undercover investigation by the FBI that included wiretaps of some 15,000 calls.

 

"There is talk on the wire that the clients of the buyer are of Middle East descent," said one law enforcement source familiar with the charges. But the references were "vague," the source said.

 

The arrests resulted from a yearlong undercover investigation by the FBI that included wiretaps.

 

"There is talk on the wire that the clients of the buyer are of Middle East descent," said one law enforcement source familiar with the charges. But the references were "vague," the source said.

 

The defendants are predominantly Armenian, Russian, and Georgian. The group's alleged ring leader was Arthur Solomonyan, an Armenian.

 

Two other suspects were arrested in Florida and others were taken into custody in Southern California.

 

Law enforcement officials hesitated to label the suspects "terrorists."

 

"These defendants may not have been terrorist themselves, but they have showed transparent willingness to do anything with anybody, so long as it generates money for their organization," said Andy Arena of the FBI at the news conference.

 

According to the criminal complaint unsealed in New York Tuesday, Solomonyan discussed with an informant importing 200 RPGs from Armenia as recently as January.

 

The suspects conducted many of their negotiations in English, according to the law enforcement source.

 

The attempted sales of shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) and rocket-propelled grenades never went beyond the discussion phase, and those weapons never entered the United States from abroad, the source said.

 

The negotiations were for multimillion-dollar sales.