A US federal court has sentenced a British businessman to 47 years in prison for providing financial support for terrorist activities against the United States.
Prosecutors say Hemant Lakhani (70) tried to sell a shoulder-fired missile to a man posing as a terrorist group member. He was found guilty in April of attempting to support terrorism, illegal arms brokering, money laundering and other charges.
Lakhani, who had faced a maximum sentence of 67 years, has maintained he was set up in a sting operation. "It's a total lie," he said in US District Court in Newark, New Jersey.
Lakhani was arrested two years ago after US Customs officers and FBI agents stormed a New Jersey hotel room and found him showing a "sample" shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile to an informant posing as a member of a Somali militant group.
The arrest was the culmination of a 22-month sting spanning three continents.
The Indian-born clothing merchant has claimed he was a victim of entrapment because the buyer was an FBI informant and the missile sellers were undercover Russian agents.
Prosecutors said Lakhani had agreed to sell as many as 200 missiles to the informant and that he believed they would be used to shoot down US airliners.