http://msnbc.msn.com/ID/7188615/

U.S. charges 18 after arms smuggling sting
Plot allegedly involved grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles
MSNBC staff and news service reports
Updated: 12:50 p.m. ET March 15, 2005

NEW YORK - Eighteen people have been charged with conspiring to illegally import rocket-propelled grenades, shoulder fired surface-to-air missiles and other weapons from eastern European countries, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

They have been charged, among other crimes, with conspiracy, interstate shipment of illegal devices, including machine guns and mines and the illegal possession of those arms, U.S. Attorney David Kelley told reporters.

A government informant essentially posed as an arms broker for terrorists, Kelley said.

The defendants brought AK-47s and an Uzi into the country and delivered them to storage facilities in various locations, Kelley said.

'Broader scheme' plotted

At that point an “even broader scheme� evolved to smuggle heat-seeking SAMs, anti-tank missiles and fully automatic assault rifles, among other weapons, at a cost of more than $2 million, Kelley said.

One defendant suggested he could obtain enriched uranium for use in an attack on the New York subway, Kelley said, but authorities never found any evidence that that was true.

The informant contacted the FBI after he was approached by a man who said he had access to weapons from the former Soviet Union and believed the informant, an explosives expert, could find a willing buyer, according to a law enforcement source, who spoke Tuesday to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Armenians, South Africans

Over the following year, the informant purchased eight assault weapons in locations around the country. Using a digital camera provided by the informant, members of the ring, which included Armenians and South Africans, provided pictures of the weapons they said they had available for sale from East European military contacts, the official said.

The pictures, apparently taken somewhere in Armenia, show anti-tank missiles, a Russian missile launcher and a recoilless anti-tank rifle, among other weapons, the official said.

Kelley said the first arrests were made in New York Monday night, and were quickly followed with arrests in Miami and Los Angeles, among other places.

The defendants also are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to traffic in machine guns and other assault weapons, and with selling eight such weapons.