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| Brit arrested trying to smuggle SAM into US | |
| 2003-08-12 | |
| Short blurb, probably will be more later. Aug. 12— A British citizen has been arrested on suspicion of being involved in a plot to smuggle surface-to-air missiles into the United States, ABCNEWS has learned. The man was arrested in Newark, N.J., this morning as part of an international sting pulled off by the FBI, British and Russian authorities. Other arrests are under way. The person arrested allegedly sought to smuggle a Russian-made surface-to-air missile into the country and believed he was selling missiles to would-be terrorists, sources said. The name of the person has not been disclosed. Merc or True Believer?
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| Posted by:Laurence of the Rats |
| #6 More: Sources said the kind of missile he wanted to buy was the SA-18, which is said to be one of the most sophisticated such weapons in the world. The weapon that came into the United States was unusable because the Russians who were participating with the sting sold it to the suspect that way, sources said. This afternoon, law enforcement officials conducted a raid in midtown Manhattan to seize financial records and cash in connection with the case. Raids were also taking place in the United Kingdom but it is unclear what these yielded. Today's arrest came as authorities in Saudi Arabia said they thwarted an al Qaeda cell that was allegedly planning to blow up a British Airways passenger jet. Older Missiles on Black Market The British national boasted that the missile could be used to shoot down Air Force One, the presidential 747. But he did not say the missile was going to be used for that purpose, sources said. According to ABCNEWS consultant Richard Clarke, most older surface-to-air missiles are not difficult to obtain. Older, Russian-built SA-7 shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles are more readily available on the black market. Unlike the SA-7, the SA-18 is a more modern weapon with highly accurate red targeting capability, making it much sought-after by terrorists. "The older generation of SA-7 missiles are relatively cheap and easy to get on the black market, but the problem is they don't work very well," Clarke said. "The younger generation of missiles are pretty much kept under lock and key and very hard to get." Surface-to-air missiles cannot reach aircraft once they are airborne, Clarke said. The weapons are used to attack planes once they take off or are about to land. Many U.S. aircraft, he said, are equipped to deflect surface to air attacks by using flares to throw off the targets of the heat-seeking missiles. "Other aircraft, Air Force One and a few other high-value U.S. aircraft, have additional technology that's classified, and it's designed to confuse these missiles," Clarke said. "But to secure thousands of other aircraft, that would cost billions of dollars in defense." Sources told ABCNEWS that the British national boasts of bringing down Air Force One were not taken seriously. In addition, sources said, Air Force One has the capability to thwart such an attack. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2003-8-12 6:49:03 PM |
| #5 Could this be one of Galloway's grovellers? First, he's a Brit of INDIAN derivation. Second, he's an arms dealer. Third, he seems to have a pipeline into Russia, or somewhere for Russian weapons. Finally, he's sloppy, and gets caught. Sounds like a perfect fit with old George. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-8-12 6:21:12 PM |
| #4 I hope he got it here successfully because they let him so they could follow the trail. Yikes... |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2003-8-12 5:54:10 PM |
| #3 The BBC page says the guy managed to get the missle here sucessfully. It also says "The man is an established arms dealer, thought to be a middle aged man of Indian origin, who lives in London." |
| Posted by: growler 2003-8-12 5:30:37 PM |
| #2 I'm guessing it's Mahmoud... |
| Posted by: Fred 2003-8-12 5:06:37 PM |
| #1 He was caught. I'm voting True Believer. |
| Posted by: seafarious 2003-8-12 4:51:41 PM |