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Feds tell how the weapons sting was played
(CNN) -- British arms dealer Hemant Lakhani boasted of selling arms to terrorists while trying to make a deal to provide missiles to people who wanted to shoot down American jetliners, federal prosecutors said Wednesday. However, Lakhani's sale of shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles was doomed from the start -- his intended customer was working for the FBI and his supplier was working for the Russian intelligence. Both agencies were being aided by British intelligence. According to court documents, the threads of the plot began just a few months after terrorists crashed jetliners into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Virginia and a field in Pennsylvania, killing 2,948 people September 11, 2001. Those documents outline this story: It was in December of 2001 when a person described as a "cooperating witness" under the control of a U.S. law enforcement officer began talking to Lakhani. Eventually, the two would have more than 150 recorded conversations. Those talks were always in the Urdu or Hindi language. The witness was referred to in court documents as CW. In the spring of 2002, Lakhani met CW in a New Jersey hotel and discussed what weapons Lakhani could provide and that CW represented a Somali group who initially wanted one missile for a jihad involving a plane and "hitting people over here." During their talks, Lakhani said Osama bin Laden "did a good thing" and commented that "the Americans are bastards." In August of 2002, the fake terrorist frontman would tell Lakhani that his buyer wanted the missile in time for "the anniversary" – a reference to the September 11 attacks. Lakhani later faxed a brochure on the specifications of an Igla-S portable anti-aircraft missile system to the terrorist frontman and urged him to buy 20 missiles. A month later, the two met again in New Jersey at a hotel overlooking Newark Liberty International Airport., where they discussed how the launcher and the missiles would be used. CW made it clear what the missile target would be when he pointed to U.S. jetliners taking off and landing. But when asked who would target the aircraft, CW said the Somalis could conduct the jihad. Lakhani also verified with the fake purchasing agent that the purpose of the attack would be to cause economic harm to the United States. Over the next two months, the two men would discuss price as well as payment and shipping methods. Lakhani complained after "that accident" -- a reference to the September 11 attacks – that international arms trafficking become more difficult. Lakhani lectured CW after he suggested depositing the next partial payment directly into the supplier's account. "No, you will be caught. Try to save your skin. ... This business is getting so dangerous. No one has the guts to do it ... I won't do anything if it is risky." Lakhani also bragged about the superior quality of his weaponry over what terrorists had previously used. He instructed CW to buy Time and Newsweek magazines and read about the attempts to shoot down a commercial aircraft in Kenya on November 28, 2002, with a SA-7 model missile. He said, "Ours is a much higher quality" than the 1960s model. After several more conversations on payment methods, Lakhani faxed CW an invoice for "spare parts for medical facilities" and "spare parts for laboratory bench" with a price of $60,000. In response, U.S. law enforcement wired a final payment of $56,500 to an overseas account. The two men traveled to Moscow in July of 2003 to meet with their Russian suppliers. In actuality, those suppliers were undercover officers with the Russian Federal Security Service. Those undercover officers displayed what they said was a surface-to-air missile, but it was really just a replica. A day later in the port area of St. Petersburg, Russia, Lakhani told his Russian suppliers that he wanted to buy an additional 50 missiles and tons of C-4 plastic explosive. A couple weeks later, CW and Lakhani discussed when the arms dealer would return to New Jersey to meet with the actual buyers of the missiles and discuss a new and larger purchase. But instead of the buyers, Lakhani met up with federal agents and was arrested Tuesday.
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