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NRI convicted of trying to sell arms in US
Hemant Lakhani was convicted of attempting to sell shoulder-launched missiles to what he believed was a terrorist group planning to shoot down airliners.
An India-born former British clothing merchant was convicted of attempting to sell shoulder-launched missiles to what he believed was a terrorist group planning to shoot down airliners.
The federal jury reached its verdict on Wednesday in its second day of deliberations, finding Hemant Lakhani guilty on all five counts.
In a jailhouse interview on Wednesday night, Lakhani proclaimed his innocence and called the verdict "a disgrace to the judicial system." He said he would appeal.
"I've been used as a political football," he said. "There was no buyer, there was no seller and there was no missile."
Lakhani, 69, was arrested in 2003 at a hotel room near the Newark airport after getting caught in a sting operation in which undercover operatives posed as terrorists and arms dealers. Prosecutors said he agreed to arrange the sale of more than 50 missiles.
It was the first terrorism case prosecuted in New Jersey since the September 11 attacks.
US Attorney Christopher J Christie called the verdict "a triumph for the Justice Department in the war against terror." Lakhani, he added, "didn't care who he was dealing them to, or what they wanted to use them for."
Prosecutors said Lakhani was heard in one taped conversation saying Osama bin Laden "straightened these idiots — he did a very good thing," in reference to the September 11 terrorist attacks, and spoke about providing the missiles in time for the one-year anniversary of the attacks.
