U.S. charges 18 after arms smuggling sting

[Taylor]

I didn't want to hijack Beowulf's thread about the ASVAB so this is getting its own thread. For those that have doubts about how serious terrorism is here on US soil:

NEW YORK - U.S. authorities on Tuesday charged 18 people in an alleged scheme to smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian military weapons into the United States.

They have been charged, among other crimes, with conspiracy, interstate shipment of illegal devices, including machine guns and mines and the illegal possession of those arms, U.S. Attorney David Kelley told reporters.

A government informant essentially posed as an arms broker for terrorists, Kelley said.

The defendants brought AK-47s and an Uzi into the country and delivered them to storage facilities in various locations, Kelley said.

'Broader scheme' emerged
At that point an “even broader scheme” evolved to smuggle heat-seeking SAMs, anti-tank missiles and fully automatic assault rifles, among other weapons, at a cost of more than $2 million, Kelley said.

One defendant suggested he could obtain enriched uranium for use in an attack on the New York subway, Kelley said, but authorities never found any evidence that that was true.

The informant 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, an explosives expert, could find a willing buyer, according to a law enforcement source, who asked to remain anonymous.

Over the following year, the informant purchased eight assault weapons in locations around the country. Using a digital camera provided by the informant, members of the ring, which included Armenians and South Africans, provided pictures of the weapons they said they had available for sale, prosecutors said.

The pictures, apparently taken somewhere in Armenia, showed anti-tank missiles, a Russian missile launcher and an anti-tank rifle, among other weapons, officials said.

Cross-border cooperation
Seventeen of the 18 people charged were in custody on Tuesday, arrested in New York, Los Angeles or Florida, authorities said. Prosecutors alleged that the defendants were preparing to import the weapons, including anti-tank missile systems, into the country from Eastern Europe.

The FBI is working with Armenian and Russian authorities to secure the weapons, authorities said.

A criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan charged five men with conspiring to transport destructive devices and 13 others with weapons trafficking for their alleged roles in supplying machine-guns and other assault weapons destined to be sold to the informant.

According to the complaint, the informant met two of the defendants, Artur Solomonyan and Christiaan Dewet Spies, on several occasions in New York to discuss the weapons deals.

Solomonyan, an Armenian citizen living in New York and Los Angeles, and Spies, a South African citizen living in New York, were arrested Monday night at a Manhattan hotel after meeting one last time with the informant to finalize their plans before leaving the country to obtain the weapons, prosecutors alleged.

If convicted, the two each face up to 30 years in prison. It was not immediately clear who would represent them in court.

 

[ravensteve1961]

Taylor the media got you so worked up on this. There were hundreads of threats from arabs after 9-11. Guess what nothing happend thanks to tom ridge homeland security and the patroit act that got plenty of arabs arrested in this country before they can commit any kind of terrorist act. And the latest threat al queda wants to attack resteraunts and malls wont happen cause FBI and the CIA are reading your e-mails and listening to phone call conversations. Anything from the middle east comes in this country they are listen too and traced as well .Thats how the FBI made an arrest at the arabs home before he can carry out a such an attack.

 

[Codger]

I don't think Taylor is "so worked up". I think he is being realistic about the fact that we are indeed at war with a fanatical people who want to kill civilians here. The do have sleeper cells operating here. And we also have splinter cells operating to stop them. Most of the intercepts of foriegn agents and weapons are not reported to the media. And for a good reason. This is but one small group of 18 people who were stopped in their tracks. What would have happened if six two man teams had gotten the missles and other weapons and set up near major airports in Denver, Los Angeles, Atlanta, New York, San Francisco, and Miami? Five jumbo jets blown out of the air?

 

[Taylor]

Taylor the media got you so worked up on this. There were hundreads of threats from arabs after 9-11. Guess what nothing happend thanks to tom ridge homeland security and the patroit act that got plenty of arabs arrested in this country before they can commit any kind of terrorist act. And the latest threat al queda wants to attack resteraunts and malls wont happen cause FBI and the CIA are reading your e-mails and listening to phone call conversations. Anything from the middle east comes in this country they are listen too and traced as well .Thats how the FBI made an arrest at the arabs home before he can carry out a such an attack.

Steve, This isn't being hopped up on media. These people were arrested within the United States and the wheels to get the weapons here were in motion. The only thing that stopped it was because an informant snitched to the plan. What if that 'arms dealer' wasn't somebody who would snitch...

 

[ravensteve1961]

We now have the intelligence to stop al queda from pulling off another 9-11. Why you think bush fired all CIA and FBI employees who were hired by bill clinton? Because bill clinton didnt care you had the qualifications for that job. He just hired you. Thats why our intelligence were so lousy and allowed 9-11 to happen. Just like FDR had lousy intelligence and they didnt stop a peral harbor attack. And IKE also had lousy intelligence because you didnt keep nuclear secrets from the russians. JFK had the smatest iintelligence people highly intelligent. Cause what would had happend if the russians slipped under our feet and put those nukes into cuba? What Bush should have done is evalutate all those agents that bill clinton hired and if theyre not smart just fire them. Thats what JFK did when he first took office. He fired all those agents were hired by ike.So we now have what it takes to prevent another 9-11.

 

[Codger]

We now have the intelligence to stop al queda from pulling off another 9-11.

Do we?

Why you think bush fired all CIA and FBI employees who were hired by bill clinton? Because bill clinton didnt care you had the qualifications for that job. He just hired you. Thats why our intelligence were so lousy and allowed 9-11 to happen..

Presidents don't hire and train CIA and FBI agents.

Just like FDR had lousy intelligence and they didnt stop a peral harbor attack.

It has been proven that we cracked the Japanese secret codes long before Pearl Harbor and FDR did indeed have the forewarning of the attack. He even replaced the Pearl Admiral Before the attack because he complained about lack of preparation before the attack.

And IKE also had lousy intelligence because you didnt keep nuclear secrets from the russians.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg? http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROS_ACCT.HTM

JFK had the smatest iintelligence people highly intelligent. Cause what would had happend if the russians slipped under our feet and put those nukes into cuba?.

Bay of pigs? (Richard M. Nixon proposed it | Dwight D. Eisenhower planned it | Robert F. Kennedy championed it | John F. Kennedy approved it | The CIA carried it out | 1,197 invaders were captured | 200 of them had been soldiers in Batista's army (14 of those were wanted for murder in Cuba) | One CIA soldier fired the first shot | A volunteer teacher was the first Cuban casualty | 4 American pilots and over 100 Cuban invaders were killed in battle | 1,400 Cuban invaders felt betrayed by their sponsor | One U.S. senator lied to the United Nations | One U.S. president was embarrassed in front of the world )
http://members.aol.com/yo1460/byopr/report1.html

JFK What Bush should have done is evalutate all those agents that bill clinton hired and if theyre not smart just fire them. Thats what JFK did when he first took office. He fired all those agents were hired by ike.So we now have what it takes to prevent another 9-11.

Presidents don't hire, train, evaluate FBI, CIA agents.

 

[The*Empress]

Why Arabs can't be like Japaneses?

Japaneses whooped our asses....
Wow they flew over here and dropped bombs on us.
They were the baddest.

 

[ravensteve1961]

Guess what we did to the Japanese?

We should have done this to saudi arabia long time ago.