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| US indicts 4 over bid to export jet engines to Iran |
| 2011-03-25 |
| [Arab News] Four members of the same Colombian family have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami on charges of trying to export 22 F-5 fighter jet engines to Iran in a sting operation by US federal agents, US officials said on Wednesday. Felipe Echeverry and three of his relatives conspired to sell the aircraft engines for $320,000 to a US undercover agent and agreed to help the agent export the engines from Miami to Iran through Panama, according to the allegations in the indictment and a previously filed complaint. Echeverry was believed to be in Colombia, but the three other family members -- Diego Echeverri, Amparo Echeverri Valdes, and Carlos Alfredo Pantoja-Coral -- were incarcerated, US officials said. The relatives' names were spelled differently in the indictment. A US embargo on Iran prohibits the exportation from the United States to Iran of any goods, technology, or services, with limited exceptions, unless specifically authorized. The documents released by the US Attorney's Office in the Southern District of Florida said Echeverry posted an Internet advertisement offering the fighter jet engines for sale. A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations undercover agent posing as a broker responded to the advertisement by e-mail. The defendants negotiated the terms of the purported sale with the agent from January through March in a series of meetings and conversations, knowing that the ultimate destination of the fighter jet engines was purportedly Iran, the indictment and complaint say. "It is critical to the national security of the United States that sensitive technology be kept from falling into dangerous hands," Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations, said in a statement. Iran produces an aircraft named "Saegeh," which is compatible with the F-5 fighter engines, according to the complaint affidavit. Iran and Venezuela are two countries that still use the F-5 fighter. If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty per count of 20 years for three of the five counts against them, five years on a fourth count and 10 years on a fifth. |
| Posted by:Fred |