Newsday August 13, 2003
Missile Sale Foiled
Arrests in plot to sell weapon to terrorists
By Tom Brune
Washington - The FBI arrested a British national in New Jersey and two others yesterday in what officials described as an international sting operation involving a plot to smuggle and sell a Russian-made shoulder-fired missile to terrorists.
The man, described as a middleman in a weapons-smuggling operation, was arrested at a hotel near Newark International Airport after he had been tracked for some time by the FBI in cooperation with Russian and British officials, law enforcement authorities confirmed.
The man, a British national of Indian descent, sold the missile to an FBI agent posing as an al-Qaida terrorist, the authorities said. The deal called for the seller to provide a weapon capable of bringing down a commercial airliner, the officials said. The weapon was identified by the Associated Press as a sophisticated SA-18 Igla missile.
Little information was available about the two others arrested. Federal authorities declined to identify the men. The charges in the case were under seal yesterday in New Jersey. A news conference is planned for today, officials said. There was never any danger to aviation because of the sting operation, a law enforcement official said.
Concerns about terrorists using shoulder-fired missiles to shoot down commercial airliners increased in November when two SA-7 missiles narrowly missed an Israeli passenger jet after it took off from Mombasa, Kenya. Officials concluded that al-Qaida probably was behind the attack, which coincided with a bomb blast at a nearby hotel. Hundreds and perhaps thousands of Russian-made SA-7s - heat-seeking rockets that can hit low-flying aircraft within three miles - are said to be available on the worldwide arms market. Older missile launchers can be bought for as little as several thousand dollars.
Chechen rebels have used Igla shoulder-fired missiles against Russian military aircraft. Last week they used a missile to shoot down a Russian helicopter, killing three of the crew members. And last year the rebels shot down a Russian troop-carrying helicopter, killing more than 100 people.
The Homeland Security Department has asked high-tech companies to look into developing anti-missile technology for commercial planes.
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and others in Congress have been pushing for more money and a faster timetable for the project. Schumer said Homeland Security will take at least two years to develop a missile defense prototype for airliners. "The threat facing commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles here in the United States is no longer theoretical," Schumer said yesterday.
"The danger of an airliner being shot down by one of these missiles is now staring the Homeland Security Department in the face," Schumer said. "The White House ought to be providing Homeland Security with the money it needs to begin protecting civilian aircraft with jamming devices immediately, before it's too late."
He is backing a bill introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) that calls for outfitting all 6,800 U.S. commercial planes with anti-missile defenses. The cost is estimated to be $10 billion.
Meanwhile, the United States has sent experts to domestic airports as well as to airports in Iraq and major capitals in Europe and Asia to assess security. Among other things, the investigators are determining whether the airports can be defended against shoulder-fired missiles. World leaders meeting in Evian, France, in June acknowledged the threat posed by shoulder-fired missiles and adopted a plan to restrict sales of the weapons.
This story was supplemented with Associated Press reports.
Air-Travel Threat?
The FBI arrested three people yesterday and foiled an alleged plot to smuggle a Russian missile into the Unted States that could bring down a commercial airliner.
The SA-18 Igla shoulder-fired missile.
Primary function: Man-portable surface-to-air
Maximun altitude: 11,550 feet
Maximum range: 16,500 feet
Maximum speed: Mach 2
Warhead: High-explosive shpaed charge; 4.4. pounds.
SOURCE: GlobalSecurity.org
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