US: A British citizen was arrested by the FBI in Newark, New Jersey, yesterday after apparently attempting to smuggle a Russian surface-to-air missile into the United States.
The man was arrested as part of an international "sting" involving the FBI, British and Russian authorities, officials in Washington said.
The BBC reported that the suspect was a British arms dealer who had brought a Russian Igla missile into the United States and believed he was selling it to a Muslim extremist.
But, the BBC reported, the buyer was an undercover FBI agent and the arms dealer's voice is heard on tape saying he wanted the missile to be used to shoot down a large passenger plane.
Officials at the FBI in New York and in Newark were not immediately available for comment on the reports.
Although no terrorists are thought to have been involved in the operation, intelligence officials said it was a terrifying illustration of the vulnerability of western nations to attack by extremists.
Investigative reporter Tom Mangold said on BBC News 24 that a British citizen from London, a middle-aged Indian, has been detained by the FBI in a hotel in Newark. The man was understood to be an established arms dealer.
"He was detained after collecting a package marked 'medical supply' which had been shipped to a warehouse at Baltimore docks from Russia. The crate contained what appeared to be an Igla, a Russian manufactured surface to air missile," the reporter said.
He said the man had bought one missile for $85,000 from corrupt middle management at a Russian factory and was promised another 50.
According to the BBC, MI5 and MI6 in London were involved with Russian secret services and the FBI. The Russian secret service detected the arms dealer five months ago in St. Petersburg.
The BBC said the Russian president, Mr Vladimir Putin, authorised the FBI to send an undercover agent to Russia.
Mangold said that at a meeting in Russia the undercover FBI agent told the arms dealer he wanted to buy a missile to "shoot down a commercial plane" but the dealer replied he wanted the target to be "Air Force One".
The arms dealer flew to New York on Sunday on a British Airways flight from Heathrow Airport. But he was followed on to the plane and kept under surveillance until his arrest, the BBC said.
The Igla Missile System is a portable surface-to-air missile designed to strike low-level flying aircraft, including helicopters and commercial jets.
Launched from the shoulder in a kneeling or standing position, it is able to intercept targets up to 5km in range and 3km in altitude.
It is designed to meet or follow aircraft and can be used in temperate cold, arid or humid tropical climate conditions.
The heat-seeking missile can travel at any angle and can be fired one by one or in groups at a given target. It is considered deadly accurate.