US: A British man was found guilty yesterday of trying to provide material support to terrorists by attempting to sell a shoulder-launched missile to an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant seeking to attack the United States.
Hemant Lakhani (69), a British citizen born in India, was found guilty of five criminal charges by a US District Court jury in Newark, New Jersey.
Lakhani was arrested in August 2003 after a two-year international sting operation and charged with trying to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful arms sales, smuggling and money laundering. He faces 25 years in prison.
Prosecutors provided videotapes and taped telephone conversations of Lakhani making the deal with an undercover FBI informant posing as an Islamic militant.
But while the prosecution depicted Lakhani as an enthusiastic broker eager to supply a terrorist group, the defence said he was a victim of overzealous law enforcement.
Lakhani has never denied the facts. But he insists he was entrapped by the FBI, which supplied the arms buyer, and Russian agents who posed as sellers.