HONOLULU -- Authorities have taken four men into custody in Honolulu because federal agents said the men were trying to smuggle a shipment of weapons through Honolulu International Airport to Indonesia.Honolulu was the center of an international arms deal worth more than $3 million, according to agents with the Homeland Security Department and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The deal was stopped with the help of the American company that was supposed to supply the equipment.
The shopping list included submachine guns, pistols, sniper rifles and equipment and weapons for fighter aircraft. The weapons included 882 Heckler and Koch MP5 submachine guns, 800 Heckler and Koch 9mm handguns, and 16 Heckler and Koch sniper rifles.
Authorities have in custody: Hadianto Djoko Djuliarso, 41 of Indonesia; Ibrahim Bin Amran, 46, of Singapore; another Indonesian named Ignatius Ferdinandus Soeharli; and a British citizen David Beecroft. They are all charged with trying to import weapons to Indonesia without a license.
The men came from Detroit and the far east to meet at Honolulu International Airport on Thursday and Friday. The federal government monitored the meeting at the airport and arrested the men when they went to another location to view the weapons and equipment. All of the men face up to 25 years in prison.
The Indonesians apparently claimed the weapons were going to the Indonesian government, which until recently was banned from U.S. weapons sales, according to sources. Because the men were all private individuals, there was no way to be sure the weapons would not end up in the hands of terrorists, local agents said.
Detention hearings for the men are scheduled for later this week.