Thread: Feds accuse men in scheme to smuggle missiles into U.S.

www.signonsandiego.com

Feds accuse men in scheme to smuggle missiles into U.S.


By Christina Almeida
ASSOCIATED PRESS

7:03 p.m. November 9, 2005

LOS ANGELES – A federal grand jury indicted two Southern California men Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to smuggle three shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles into the United States for use abroad. Such missiles are designed to bring down aircraft.
The charges against Chao Tung "John" Wu and Yi Qing Chen, both naturalized U.S. citizens born in China, stemmed from an international undercover investigation, federal prosecutors said. The men are accused of agreeing to arrange shipment of the missiles from a country that is not named in the indictment.

Federal officials said no allegations of domestic terrorism were involved.

"The smugglers were told the weapons would be sent abroad and not be used in the United States," said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.

Wu, 51, of La Puente and Chen, 41, of Rosemead met in October 2004 with an undercover agent whom they believed was involved in trafficking, according to the indictment. The two men agreed to contact a general in a nation described in the indictment as "Country One."

In an interview, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aveis declined to identify the country or other nations listed in the indictment by number rather than name. He declined to say whether the investigation was continuing.

According to the indictment, in November 2004 the undercover agent spoke with the general supplying the missiles, described as capable of targeting F-15 and F-16 fighters, A-10 attack aircraft, AH-64 Apache helicopters and Tomahawk cruise missiles. The general wanted to know who would be obtaining the missiles, it said.

As part of the conspiracy, Wu and Chen allegedly told the undercover agent a third country would pretend to order the missiles from the manufacturer. Instead, the missiles would be shipped in sea-land containers to the United States through the Port of Long Beach, Calif.

The indictment does not specify a purchase price for the "QW-2" missiles, but mentions a $300,000 deposit, which Mrozek said represented 10 percent of the total cost. It also references a $2 million payment to be made to the relative of the president of another unspecified foreign country "for facilitating the shipment of the missiles from Country One to the United States."

The undercover agent was initially told 200 missiles were available for purchase. Final negotiations involved three missiles, Mrozek said.

According to the indictment, Wu and Chen told the undercover agent they expected to receive a 10 percent commission for smuggling the missiles.

"Today's indictment shows a willingness of the smugglers to acquire practically anything for importation, no matter how dangerous or destructive," U.S. Attorney Debra Wong Yang said in a statement.

Wu's lawyer Gerson Horn said his client was innocent and the undercover agent "initiated the negotiations and persisted in the negotiations but it never bore fruit ... with either one of them."

Horn said no weapons or weapon components changed hands.

Chen's lawyer did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

The indictment marks the first time a 2004 anti-terrorism statute has been used. The statute calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years and the possibility of life in prison without parole if convicted.

The men have been in custody since August when they were arrested as part of Operation Smoking Dragon, a federal undercover investigation into smuggling operations in Southern California. The men were originally charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and Ecstasy and importing millions of counterfeit cigarettes.

The men were previously ordered held without bond at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles. An arraignment hearing on the new charges was scheduled for Monday.

Now tell me please where they got these missiles?

Please tell me why the country isn't named in the indictment but referred to as Country One?

What do these people think we are a bunch of morons?

No, we're not. They smuggled them in from China, because they are Chinese, and still have contacts there.

Who were they selling them to?

How do we know they weren't going to be used here in the USA?

Ooooh, because Wu an Fu said so?

Right.