US indicts British-Indian for smuggling missile

A British arms dealer of Indian descent arrested in August for allegedly seeking to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States was indicted on charges that include seeking to sell a 'dirty bomb', prosecutors said.

Hemant Lakhani, 68, of London, was arrested on August 12 at a hotel near Newark International Airport after he illegally imported a deactivated shoulder-fired missile and its launcher with the goal of shooting down a US commercial airliner.

Lakhani was one of three people apprehended in an international operation with Britain and Russia.

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Lakhani was also indicted on charges he offered to supply anti-aircraft guns, tanks, armoured personnel carriers, C-4 explosives, radar systems and a 'dirty bomb', US Attorney Christopher Christie said.

A 'dirty bomb' refers to radioactive or chemical material that can be rigged with explosives to detonate and contaminate an area.

Prosecutors have several hours of video and audiotape in which Lakhani spoke to an undercover informant posing as a Somali terrorist group representative, and offered to provide up to 50 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.

Contact between Lakhani and the informant began in December 2001, with most of the conversations spoken in Urdu or Hindi.

Lakhani told the informant that the missiles 'could be used most effectively in terrorising America if 10 to 15 commercial aircraft were shot down simultaneously across the country," according to a statement from the US attorney's office.

"The evidence makes clear that Lakhani had the intention and ability to put a missile into the hands of a terrorist," Christie said in the statement.

"It also shows that he suggested a plan for multiple attacks on American cities with the missiles he was willing to sell to people he believed would do it," he added.

"Just ahead of his arrest Lakhani was videotaped handling the shoulder-fired missile, which was an unarmed weapon substituted for the authentic one he believed he had imported through contacts in Russia," the statement read.

Russian officials had earlier infiltrated Lakhani's pipeline to his weapons supplier.

Lakhani is charged in the indictment with attempting to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful brokering of foreign defence articles, money laundering, and attempting to import merchandise by means of false statements.

Lakhani has been jailed since his arrest, but will soon appear in court, the prosecutor said.

Agencies