The Houston Chronicle August 14, 2003
How missile deal was shot down
Suspect charged in sting had agreed to provide 50 weapons
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle News Services
WASHINGTON - Shortly after the first anniversary of Sept. 11, Hemant Lakhani sat in a hotel near Newark Airport watching planes take off and made his pitch to sell an anti-aircraft missile, authorities said.
Speaking to a man he thought was a supporter of terror kingpin Osama Bin Laden, Lakhani said the missile he was offering could "make one explosion . . . to shake the economy."
The price for the first missile was $ 85,000 with a $ 30,000 down payment, all of it to be paid in $ 100 bills. But overall, authorities said, Lakhani had agreed to provide the buyer with 50 missiles at a total price of $ 5 million.
Lakhani, a British arms dealer born in India, told the buyer, who was in reality an FBI informant, that he knew the sophisticated Russian-made missile would be used in a terror attack against a commercial airliner in the United States, the affidavit said.
The conversation was one of the more than 150 surreptitiously recorded by investigators during the 18-month investigation that led on Wednesday to Lakhani's arrest in Newark on charges of later trying to sell such a missile to U.S. agents. The missile had, in fact, been made inoperable by the agents' Russian counterparts in a sting operation, however, and no terrorists were ever actually involved in the plot.
In an earlier meeting in New Jersey, on Jan. 17, 2002, Lakhani and the buyer discussed Osama bin Laden. According to the affidavit, Lakhani said, that bin Laden had "straightened them out" and had done "a good thing."
In yet another meeting in New Jersey, on April 25, 2002, when the buyer told Lakhani that the missiles were intended for a "plane," that would "hit the American people over here," Lakhani replied that "the Americans are bastards," according to the affidavit.
On Wednesday, Lakhani, who is 68 and lives in North London, was charged in a two-count federal complaint accusing him of trying to provide material support to terrorists and trying to sell arms without a license.
Two other men arrested on Tuesday were also identified on Wednesday. Prosecutors said one was Yehuda Abraham, a 76-year-old jeweler from New York. The other man was Moinduddeen Ahmed Hameed, a 38-year-old Indian citizen, who arrived in the New York area on Tuesday from Malaysia.
The court documents said that Lakhani enlisted Abraham and Hameed to help manage the financial arrangements for the arms deal. Each of them was charged with conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, but neither Abraham nor Hameed was charged with any terrorism-related offenses.
All three men appeared in federal court on Wednesday, Lakhani and Hameed in Newark, and Abraham in Manhattan. Neither Lakhani nor Hameed addressed the court. Both men were handcuffed with chains around their waists and hands in front. Lakhani wore a blue short-sleeve shirt and dark pants and was seen animatedly conferring with his lawyer, Donald J. McCauley, shortly before the 15-minute hearing began.
After the hearing, Christopher J. Christie, the U.S. attorney in Newark, said Lakhani was a "significant arms dealer" who promised to deliver the missiles "specifically for the purpose of shooting an American commercial airliner out of the sky."
"There is no question that Mr. Lakhani was someone who was sympathetic to the beliefs of the terrorists who were trying to do damage to this country," Christie said.
U.S. officials said on Wednesday that Russian investigators first came across Lakhani when he was seeking suppliers for illegal arms among Russian crime groups. The case was the first undercover terrorism investigation that the two countries worked on together.
Larry Mefford, head of intelligence and counterterrorism at the FBI, said, "This was an unprecedented example of joint cooperation and we look forward to building on this success."
In the affidavit, authorities described how U.S. investigators tracked Lakhani's activities through the cooperating witness who convinced Lakhani that he was a shadowy middleman for Somali terrorists affiliated with al-Qaida. The cooperating witness is expected to testify when the case comes to trial.
In addition, the court document details how Russian security officers operating undercover fooled Lakhani into believing that they were black-market suppliers who had sold him a fully functional weapon, which was transported by ship from St. Petersburg to the port of Baltimore. The deadly accurate SA-18 missile - in reality a disarmed weapon that could not have fired a missile - was seized on Tuesday.
U.S. officials said Wednesday that the case is still being investigated in Russia, apparently because of the possibility that Lakhani might have been close to tapping into an arms pipeline.
While the case shifted to a Newark courtroom, the debate continued about the safety of commercial aircraft and their vulnerability to missile attack. President Bush, at his ranch in Crawford, said that U.S. airlines and airports were safe.
"The fact that we were able to sting this guy is a pretty good example of what we're doing in order to protect the American people," Bush said. He added, "Today, the airports are much more secure than they were prior to September 11. America is a safe place for people to fly because we are working hard to make sure that our homeland security is strong."
COUNTERING THE PORTABLE MISSILE
While airliners are safe from shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles when flying at cruising altitude (30,000 feet), they are vulnerable during takeoff and landing.
THE THREAT
Shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles (SAMs)
These missiles are frequently called heat- seeking missiles because they employ sensors that lock in on the target's infrared signature, often the engine.
The Igla SA-18 is a Russian-made, shoulder-fired missile that can fit inside a golf bag:
Missile
Range: 17,000 feet
Altitude: 11,500 feet
Length: 5.5 feet
Payload: 4.6 pounds high explosives
SOME SOLUTIONS
Commercial planes may be fitted with one or more defensive measures found on military cargo planes.
Directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCMs)
Laser focuses infrared energy directly on the incoming missile; provides most effective defense against modern portable SAM, but weight, cost, size and reliability are an issue.
Infrared counter-measures (IRCMs)
These transmitters create fields of infrared energy to confuse shoulder-fired SAMs; only effective against older infrared guided missiles.
Flares
White-hot flares shot from the plane attract and confuse older shoulder-fired SAMs, but not on the newer models; pose a fire hazard and may be too risky over urban areas.
GRAPHIC: Photo: 1. Arms dealer Hemant Lakhani is taken to a hearing in Newark, N.J., Wednesday on charges of trying to sell surface-to-air missiles to an undercover agent for the FBI. (color); Graph: 2. COUNTERING THE PORTABLE MISSILE (TEXT, p. 14); Drawing: 3. Launcher (p. 14); 4. Missile (p. 14); 5. Airplane (p. 14); 1. John O'Boyle / Newark Star-Ledger via Associated Press, 2. Chronicle, Sources: Associated Press, Knight Ridder Tribune; GlobalSecurity.org; The Electronic Warfare and Information Operations Association; Federation of America Scientists, Global Security Organization
© Copyright 2003, The Houston Chronicle Publishing Company
