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July 20, 2004
Fact Sheet
ICE ARMS & STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY
INVESTIGATIONS
One of the highest priorities of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security is to prevent
terrorist groups and hostile nations from illegally obtaining U.S.
military products and sensitive technology. ICE’s Arms and Strategic
Technology Investigations (ASTI) division is responsible for investigating
such violations. Last year, ICE’s ASTI division opened approximately 3,000
new criminal investigations into the illegal export of U.S. munitions and
sensitive technology.
Through an industry outreach program called “Project Shield America,”
ICE’s ASTI division is also visiting U.S. manufacturers of arms and
sensitive technology to educate them about export laws and to solicit
their assistance in preventing illegal foreign acquisition of their
products. Since late 2001, ICE agents have conducted more than 9,000
industry outreach visits, resulting in tips that have led to dozens of ICE
criminal investigations nationwide and worldwide.
Some recent illegal export investigations by ICE include:
- Sensitive Military Technology to China - On July 1,
2004, agents from ICE, the FBI, and the Department of Commerce arrested
seven individuals in New Jersey on charges that they used their two
companies, Universal Technologies, Inc., and Manten Electronics, Inc.,
to illegally export sensitive national-security controlled items to
state-sponsored institutes in China. According to the complaints, the
individuals were illegally exporting millions of dollars worth of items
that are used in a wide variety of defense weapons systems, including
smart weapons, radar, electronic warfare and communications systems. The
U.S. Attorney in Camden, New Jersey, is prosecuting the case.
- U.S. Fighter Jet to Colombia in Plot to Assassinate Drug
Baron - On June 29, 2004, veteran British mercenary and
longtime fugitive David Tomkins, 64, pleaded guilty in Miami to federal
charges of violating the Arms Export Control Act. ICE agents had
arrested Tomkins on August 31, 2003 upon his arrival in Houston on a
flight from London. Tomkins had been charged in Miami in 1994 in
connection with a scheme to buy an A-37 fighter jet from undercover ICE
agents in 1991. At the time, Tomkins intended to use the fighter jet to
bomb a Colombian prison that housed Pablo Escobar, the then-chief of
Colombia’s Medellin drug cartel. Tomkins was being paid millions to
assassinate Escobar by the rival Cali drug cartel in Colombia. Tomkins
fled the United States prior to his 1994 indictment, after being tipped
off to the ICE investigation by unknown parties. He remained a fugitive
until his arrest in 2003.
- U.S. Fighter Jet Components to China - On June 24,
2004, Ziad Jamil Gammoh, a Jordanian national, pleaded guilty to a
four-count federal indictment in Los Angeles, charging one count of
conspiracy and three counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act.
Gammoh, and another individual, Amanullah Khan, a Pakistani national,
were arrested by ICE agents in July 2003. The indictment alleged that
the pair engaged in a plot to illegally export to China components for
F-4 and F-5 U.S. military fighter jets. According to the indictment,
Gammoh operated United Aircraft & Electronics, a business in
Anaheim, Calif. that purchased and resold military aircraft parts to
foreign commercial and government buyers.
- U.S. Fighter Jet Components to Iran - On June 22,
2004, ICE agents arrested Hamid M. Butt, 71, a naturalized U.S. citizen
and Pakistani native, after he arrived in Houston on a flight from
Malaysia. Butt had been charged in New Jersey with violating the Arms
Export Control Act for allegedly attempting to sell parts for the U.S.
F-14 Tomcat fighter jet to Iran in 1999. Butt, who operated a
Texas-based aircraft part supply business that had 95 percent of its
customers in the Middle East, allegedly attempted to ship F-14 Tomcat
parts, including a navigation light, connector and integrated circuit,
to Germany via Newark International Airport, the complaint alleges. The
parts were seized in New Jersey by border inspectors.
- Military Night Vision Technology to China - On June
3, 2004, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California
announced that two individuals (Philip Cheng and Martin Shih) and a San
Jose company (Night Vision Technology) were indicted by a federal grand
jury for illegally brokering the sale of military and commercial-grade
night vision technology to China. Court documents in the case alleged
that the pair had entered into a contract with the Chinese military to
produce technology for night vision equipment in China. The defendants
were also charged with money laundering and other export violations. The
charges resulted from an extensive investigation by agents from ICE, the
FBI, the IRS, and the Department of Commerce.
- Sensitive Night Vision Technology to Iran - On May
11, 2004, a federal grand jury in Philadelphia indicted Eric Kyriacou,
24, of Houston, on charges of attempting to illegally export sensitive
Astroscope night vision lenses to Iran. According to court documents,
Kyriacou was attempting to sell the lenses on the Internet via e-bay to
undercover ICE agents posing as international arms brokers. Undercover
agents informed Kyriacou that the lenses would be going to Iran in
violation of the Iranian embargo and other export laws. Kyriacou agreed
to the sale and illegally exported the devices to undercover ICE agents
believing that they were destined for Iran. ICE agents arrested Kyriacou
in Newark on April 12, 2004.
- Military Helicopter Components to Foreign
Purchasers - On May 10, 2004, Rotair Industries, Inc. a
military helicopter parts manufacturer in Connecticut pleaded guilty to
two counts of illegally exporting U.S. defense articles. The company
agreed to pay a criminal fine of $500,000. In addition, Wesley
Harrington, the some of the company owner, pleaded guilty to attempting
to impede ICE agents during a search of Rotair’s offices. ICE agents
launched their probe of Rotair after items made by the firm were found
to have ended up in Iran. Subsequently, two separate undercover
investigations by ICE agents in Milwaukee and New Haven confirmed that
Rotair was illegally exporting military helicopter parts without the
required export licenses and approvals, even though the company had been
specifically warned against such exports by the U.S. State
Department.
- Military Helicopter Engines and Night Vision Technology to
China - On May 10, 2004, federal prosecutors in New Haven,
Conn., unsealed an indictment charging two South Korean nationals,
Kwonhwan Park and Sun-Ryual Chun, with illegally exporting military
helicopter engines and thermal imaging technology to China. ICE agents
arrested Park at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on April 1,
2004 as he attempted to board a plane bound for China with military
night vision equipment in his luggage. Chun remains a fugitive. ICE
agents in New Haven had been investigating Park for two years after his
Malaysian firm bought two military helicopter engines from a U.S. firm
and illegally exported them to China. He then attempted to buy four more
such engines from a U.S. manufacturer, which notified ICE agents. ICE
and Defense Criminal Investigative Service agents tracked Park as he
entered the United States in March 2004 and arrested him as he attempted
to depart with night vision technology.
- Military Satellite and Radar Technology to China -
On May 6, 2004, ICE agents in Los Angeles arrested John Chu, 44, of
Pasadena, Calif., and Zhu Zhaoxin, 55, of Shenzhen, China, on charges of
conspiring to purchase U.S. defense articles, including satellite and
radar technology, for illegal export to China. The arrests occurred
after the pair met with undercover ICE agents in Boston and flew to Los
Angeles with inoperable versions of the defense articles. According to
court documents, the pair had been in negotiations with undercover ICE
agents in Boston since March 2004 to purchase a variety of sensitive
items, including traveling wave tubes that are used in satellite and
radar applications, for export to China.
- Weapons to Colombian Terrorist Group - On April 1,
2004, ICE agents in Tampa, Florida, arrested Carlos Gamarra-Murillo, 53,
of Bucaramanga, Colombia, on charges of attempting to purchase more than
6,000 machine guns, grenades, grenade launchers, and pistols for export
to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a U.S. designated
terrorist organization in Colombia. According to the criminal complaint,
the total estimated value of the weapons to be brokered was nearly $4
million. Gamarra-Murrillo allegedly offered to pay undercover ICE agents
posing as weapons suppliers 60 percent of the payment in cocaine and the
remainder in U.S. currency upon delivering the weapons shipment to a
clandestine airstrip in South America. Gamarra-Murrillo was arrested in
Tampa after providing undercover ICE agents with a down payment for the
weapons transaction.
- Missile Components to the Middle East - On March
19, 2004, ICE agents arrested Leib Kohn, 70, in Brooklyn, NY, on charges
of violating the Arms Export Control Act and the International
Trafficking in Arms Regulations. According to the complaint, Kohn
purchased from a Connecticut manufacturer various items used in HAWK
missiles, military radar, and F-4 Phantom fighter jet aircraft. Kohn
then allegedly exported these items to QPS, a company in Israel, while
knowingly failing to obtain the required export license from the State
Department. ICE worked closely with the Israeli National Police, who
arrested another individual, Eli Cohen, after searching a QPS facility
in Israel. ICE and Israeli police do not believe the final destination
of the components was Israel. The investigation continues.
- Missile Components to China - On March 12, 2004,
ICE agents arrested two individuals in Orlando, Fla., on charges of
violating the Export Administration Act, conspiracy, and false
statements. Ting-Ih Hsu, a naturalized U.S. citizen and president of
Azure Systems, Inc, and Hai Lin Nee, a Chinese citizen and an employee
of Azure systems, were charged in a federal indictment with illegally
exporting to China 25 low-noise amplifier chips that have applications
in the U.S. Hellfire missile. According to the indictment, the
defendants falsely labeled the sensitive technology in export documents
as “transistors” worth some $20. If convicted, each could fact up to 10
years in prison and $50,000 in fines. Hsu was a former employee of
defense contractor Lockheed Martin. Nee formerly worked at a U.S.
research institute that designed software for military and warfare
simulations.
- Missile Components to China - On March 5, 2004,
Zhan Gao, a well-known U.S. human rights activist and scholar who had
been jailed by Chinese authorities in 2001 for allegedly spying for
Taiwan, was sentenced in the Eastern District of Virginia for illegally
exporting sensitive U.S. technology with potential military applications
to China. The technology exported by Gao could be used in missile
guidance and airborne battle management systems. Gao and her husband,
Donghua Xue, pleaded guilty in November 2003 to illegal arms export and
tax fraud violations. Gao and Xue agreed to forfeit roughly $590,000
that they had received from China as payment for the exports. The guilty
pleas resulted from an extensive ICE investigation that began in the
Fall of 2000. Gao ultimately received a sentence of 15 months, including
7 months imprisonment followed by 8 months community
confinement.
- Nuclear Trigger Devices to Pakistan - On Jan. 1,
2004, Asher Karni, 50, was arrested in Denver on charges of violating
the Export Administration Act in connection with a plot to export
devices with nuclear weapons applications to Pakistan without the
required license. The joint investigation by ICE agents in Boston and
Department of Commerce agents established that Karni, an Israeli who
lives in South Africa, was at the center of a global operation that used
front companies and false billing records to route triggered spark gaps
from a company in Massachusetts, to South Africa, the United Arab
Emirates, and ultimately to Pakistan. Triggered spark gaps can be used
to detonate nuclear weapons, but also have civilian uses in hospitals.
As part of the undercover investigation, ICE agents disabled 66 of the
devices before they were routed to Pakistan. In court hearings, federal
prosecutors have alleged that the nuclear trigger devices were routed to
an individual in Pakistan who has ties to the Pakistani military. The
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia is prosecuting Karni. The
investigation is ongoing.
- Missile Technology to China - On Nov. 18, 2003, ICE
agents in Haverhill, Mass., arrested William Kovacs, the president of
Elatec Technology Corporation (ETC). On Nov. 13, 2003, Kovacs and his
company ETC were indicted by a grand jury in Washington D.C. for
conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and violations of the Export
Administration Act. An ICE investigation had determined that ETC had
exported a sophisticated industrial furnace with potential missile
applications to a firm in China known as Chinese Great Wall. ETC had
exported the furnace to China even after its export license for this
shipment was denied by the Commerce Department.
- Military Aircraft Parts to Taiwan - On Nov. 12,
2003, Jami Siraj Choudhury was sentenced in Milwaukee, Wisc. to 37
months imprisonment and fined $2,000 for violating the Arms Export
Control Act. Choudhury pleaded guilty after an ICE investigation found
that he had illegally exported engine starters for military aircraft to
Taiwan.
- Military Assault Weapons to Philippines - On Nov.
3, 2003, ICE announced the arrest of Victor “the Devil” Infante, 34, the
leader of an international firearms and methamphetamine distribution
organization, after a 9-month investigation that involved law
enforcement agencies in the Philippines, New York, New Jersey,
California, and Louisiana. Infante was charged with the attempted export
of assault weapons, including MAC-11 submachine guns, MP-5s, HK-94s,
Colt AR-15s, and Uzi Model Bs, to the Philippines. He was also charged
with importing thousands of dollars of “meth” to New York and New
Jersey. Infante was arrested by authorities in the Philippines and
turned over to ICE/FBI custody. He is scheduled to be prosecuted in the
Eastern District of New York. Philippine authorities contend that
Infante supplied arms to the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organization in the
Philippines.
- Military Patrol Vessels to Iraq - On October 15,
2003, a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. charged Sabri Yakou, 69,
and his son Regard Yakou, 43, with violations of the Arms Export Control
Act for allegedly brokering the sale of 6 armored patrol boats, worth a
total of $11 million, to the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. The arrests
and charges were the result of an ICE investigation. The case was the
first to result from the deployment of ICE teams to Iraq in March 2003
to investigate whether U.S. people or entities had violated U.S. laws or
U.N. sanctions by supplying the Hussein regime in Iraq with munitions
and other materials.
- U.S. Fighter Jet Components to Iran - On Sept. 24,
2003, ICE agents in Miami announced the arrest of Serzhik Avassapian, a
40-year-old Iranian national, on charges of attempting to illegally
export roughly $750,000 worth of U.S. F-14 fighter jet components to the
Iranian government. During the undercover ICE investigation, there was
also discussion of illegal exports of helicopters and C-130A electrical
and avionic upgrades to Iran.
- Equipment with Nuclear Applications to Pakistani
Military - On Sept. 23, 2003, Omega Engineering of Stamford,
Connecticut, was sentenced to pay $313,000 in criminal fines and an
$187,000 civil penalty. On Sept. 22, the Chief Financial Officer of
Omega was sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 5 years home
confinement. The sentences resulted from an ICE investigation, which
found that Omega and its CFO had willfully disregarded the denial of a
U.S. export license, and illegally exported laboratory equipment with
nuclear and non-nuclear applications to the Pakistani Ministry of
Defense, National Development Center.
- Shoulder-Fired Missiles Intended for Use Against U.S.
Commercial Aircraft - On August 12, 2003, agents from ICE and
the FBI arrested accused British arms dealer Hemant Lakhani on charges
of attempting to sell a shoulder-fired missile to individuals in the
U.S. with the understanding that it would be used to shoot down an
American commercial jetliner. The criminal complaint alleged that
Lakhani sought to arrange the sale of at least another 50 shoulder-fired
missiles to an individual posing as a member of terrorist organization
in the United States. Two other individuals were charged in connection
with the monetary aspects of the case.
- Components for Missiles and Fighter Jets to Iranian Front
Company - On July 10, 2003, ICE agents executed search warrants
on 18 U.S. companies in 10 states suspected of exporting military
components to Multicore, Ltd., a front company in London that was
involved in clandestinely procuring weapons systems worldwide for the
Iranian military. Among the items allegedly exported by these U.S.
companies to Multicore were components for HAWK missiles, F-14 fighter
jets, F-5 fighter jets, F-4 fighter jets, C-130 military aircraft,
military radars, and other equipment.
- Components for Howitzers, Military Radars to
Pakistan - On June 12, 2003, Yasmin Ahmed and Tariq Ahmed
pleaded guilty in the District of Connecticut to conspiracy to violate
the Arms Export Control Act. The ICE investigation determined that the
couple had purchased in the U.S. and attempted to illegally export to
Pakistan parts for Howitzer canons, military radars, and armored
personnel carriers. As part of this investigation, Allen Haller and his
Florida-based company, Mart Haller, Inc., pleaded guilty in Connecticut
on June 9 to conspiracy to illegally export military components to a
Pakistani company in the United Arab Emirates.
- “Drone” Components to Pakistan - On May 29, 2003,
ICE agents in Chicago arrested a Pakistani woman on charges of false
statements in connection with the attempted export of components for
unmanned aerial vehicles or “drones” to Pakistan. ICE agents determined
that the woman was attempting to export these goods to an individual
affiliated with the Pakistani military.
- Military Aircraft and Engines to Libya - On March
26, 2003, a German pilot pleaded guilty to a 2-count indictment out of
Tampa, Florida, charging him with conspiracy to illegally export engines
for C-130 military aircraft and CH-47 Chinook helicopters to Libya.
During the investigation, the pilot also negotiated with undercover ICE
agents to buy 4 complete aircraft, two of which he said were for
intended for Moammar Qadaffi’s use. ICE agents arrested the pilot on
Jan. 10, 2002.
- Military Radar Components to Iran - On March 4,
2003, the U.S. Attorney in Baltimore announced the indictment of two
individuals on charges that they had attempted to illegally export from
the U.S. to Iran an array of military components, including radar
detection electronics, satellite images of Tehran, and a Cobra attack
helicopter. ICE agents arrested one defendant in Guam. The other remains
a fugitive.
- Satellite Technology to China - On March 4, 2003,
Hughes Electronics Corp. and Boeing Satellite Systems, Inc. entered into
a civil settlement with the State Department in which the companies
agreed to pay a $32 million fine, $8 million of which would go to ICE.
The agreement settled charges that the firms had illegally shared
sensitive satellite technology/know-how with China.
- Missile Components to China - On Feb. 27, 2003, the
U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles announced three separate indictments in
which five individuals and four U.S. companies were indicted for
attempting to illegally export components for Hawk Missiles, TOW
Missiles, AIM-9 Sidewinder Missiles, F-4 Phantom fighter jets, and F-14
Tomcat fighter jets. Many of these components were bound for China. The
ICE undercover investigation into these plots lasted roughly five
years.
- Military Communications Equipment to Pakistan - On
Feb. 27, 2003, Raytheon agreed to pay $25 million to settle claims that
it had attempted to illegally export troposcatter communications
equipment to the Pakistani military. Raytheon agreed to pay $20 million
to the ICE, $3 million to the State Department, and to invest $2 million
to upgrade its internal export compliance program.
- Fighter Jet Components to Overseas Locations - On
Dec. 10, 2002, the U.S. Attorney in Milwaukee announced the indictment
of three individuals and three U.S. companies on charges that they had
attempted to illegally export components for F-4 and F-15 fighter jets,
as well as parts for Sikorsky military helicopters and C-130 military
aircraft. The indictment was the result of an ICE investigation.
- Military Encryption Devices to China - On Oct. 18,
2002, the U.S. Attorney in Baltimore announced that two individuals had
been sentenced to jail terms for conspiring to export sensitive military
encryption devices to China via Singapore. The sale of these sensitive
items requires approval by the National Security Agency. ICE agents
arrested both individuals in August 2001.
- Military Aircraft Components to Iran - On July 18,
2002, an individual was sentenced in the Eastern District of New York to
a jail term in connection with a scheme to export parts for 20-mm
aircraft canons and other military parts to Iran via a front company in
Switzerland. ICE agents arrested the individual in 2001.
- Nuclear Trigger Devices to Israel - On April 29,
2002, an individual was sentenced to jail in the Central District of
California in connection with a 1980-82 scheme to export to Israel
roughly 800 krytrons, which are high-speed timing devices that can be
used to detonate a nuclear warhead. Authorities in Spain arrested the
individual in July 2001 after 16 years on the run. He had been indicted
in the U.S. in 1985.
Report any potential human rights violators in your community to
1-866-DHS-2ICE
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