US charges six with shipping arms to LTTE
WASHINGTON, (AFP) - US authorities said Friday they had charged six
Asian men with conspiracy to ship arms, including submachine guns and
sniper rifles, to Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers and unnamed customers in
Indonesia.
The men, arrested in Guam, are accused of acting as brokers between
weapons manufacturers and the Tigers, which is designated as a foreign
terrorist organisation by the US government.
“We will not allow any such terrorist organisation and its middlemen
to use the United States as a source of supply for weapons, technology
and financial resources,” said US Attorney Rod Rosenstein.
Those charged were Haniffa bin Osman, 55, of Singapore; Erick Wotulo,
60 and Haji Subandi, 69 of Indonesia; Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa, 36 of
Sri Lanka; Reinhard Rusli, 34 and Helmi Soedirdja of Indonesia.
The indictment alleges that the first four defendents conspired to
ship state of the art firearms and military equipment to the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
In May, 2006, the complaint alleges that Subandi sent repeated
requests to undercover customs and immigration agents for a host of
weaponary, including special forces weapons, helicopter spare parts and
sonar technology.
Subandi also fired off a list of 53 military weapons, including
machine guns and sniper rifles the Tigers wanted to acquire, the US
Justice Department said.
According to officials, the men were snared by a sting operation in
which undercover agents posed as arms brokers.
If found guilty of conspiracy to export arms and munitions and of
providing material support to a foreign terrorist group, the defendants
face various sentences of up to 20 years in prison and half million
dollar fines. Other defendants were accused of trying to set up meetings
with undercover agents and discussing how weapons would be shipped from
Guam to a destination in the Indian Ocean. In the alleged Indonesian
plot, Rusli and Soedirdja were accused of acting as brokers to ship
military equipment to unnamed individuals and entities in Indonesia.
The six defendants had an initial appearance in court in Guam on
Friday, and will be transferred to federal custody in Baltimore,
Maryland. |