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March 15 2005
U.S. charges 18 in Russian weapons-smuggling plot
>From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
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.
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.
Ten of the alleged weapons smugglers were arrested in the New York
area, two in Florida, and some in southern California.
They 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.
March 15 2005
U.S. charges 18 in Russian weapons-smuggling plot
>From Phil Hirschkorn
CNN
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.
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.
Ten of the alleged weapons smugglers were arrested in the New York
area, two in Florida, and some in southern California.
They 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.