"U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia said it is well documented in public reports that the sole customer of F-14 parts is the Iranian Air Force."
"Weapons export arrest made in New York," by Larry Neumeister for the Associated Press:
NEW YORK (AP) - A Pakistani national was arrested Thursday on allegations he illegally shipped weapons to Malaysia, including fighter jet parts likely to end up in Iran.
Jilani Humayun, 59, was charged with 11 counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act, one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The charges carry up to 150 years in prison upon conviction.
In court papers, federal authorities said Humayun formed a company, Vash International Inc., in January 2004 to export defense equipment including tanks, guided missiles and rocket launchers.
They said that he used Vash 11 times between January 2004 and May 2006 to export to an unidentified company in Malaysia F-5 and F-14 fighter jet parts and Chinook helicopter parts.
The Iranian Air Force acquired scores of F-5s during the early and mid-1970s. Global Security also notes that Iran's domestically produced Azarakhsh fighter is heavily based on the F-5.
Prosecutors said Humayun admitted to federal agents that he did not know who the end users were for the items that were shipped. They said he also admitted that he undervalued the shipments on his export paperwork so the company could avoid paying Malaysian customs duties.
U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia said it is well documented in public reports that the sole customer of F-14 parts is the Iranian Air Force.
"The details of the crime with which Jilani Humayun is charged are particularly disturbing, as he is alleged to have knowingly shipped technology as dangerous as F-5 and F-14 parts to Malaysia without any regard for the ultimate destination," Garcia said.
The director of the criminal investigative service in the U.S. Department of Defense, Charles W. Beardall, called the illegal export of U.S. military technology and weapons "one of the most significant and growing threats to our national security."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis denied a request by a prosecutor Thursday to order Humayun held without bail. He set bond at $500,000 and ordered him detained at his home in Lynbrook after Humayun's lawyer, Joyce London, described her client as a "true New Yorker" who rarely traveled and had visited Pakistan only once since coming to the United States in 1981.
The defense lawyer said Humayun lived with his wife and son and had to contend with illnesses including a heart condition, diabetes and high blood pressure.
1. "A Pakistani national" is allowed to continue to live in this country, engaged in the weapons trade.
2. His business, begun in January 2004, and for which he no doubt had to file all kinds of papers with the Federal government, is called Vash International Inc., engaged in the "export of defense equipment including tanks, guided missiles and rocket launchers." Why is any private party in this country allowed to engage inthe "export of defense (!) equipment including taniks, guided missiles, and rocket launchers"?
3. Among the items he was apparently able to buy were spare parts for F-5s and F-14s. Yet "U.S. Attorney Michael J. Garcia said it is well documented in public reports that the sole customer of F-14 parts is the Iranian Air Force."
If this is so, why is anyone other than the U.S. government permitted to acquire F-14 parts? Where are these parts -- on what market are they floating? Why are any in private hands? For that matter, if the "sole customer" of F-14 parts "is the Iranian Air Force" why are F-14 parts being manufactured at all?
Almost old news, but still concerning...clarification is in order though...
F-5 tigers were obtained (early to mid-70s) during the Shah years, and are hopelessly obsolete & no match for our fighters at all, even at best.
The F-14s are also obsolete now, though still somewhat formidable...but only with a well-trained pilot, which irans is NOT-without a well trained pilot, the best fighter in the world is not going to make much difference (example: chicom pilots are terrible, even with their modern flankers & fulcrums)
It highly unlikely this assclown got anything/enough through to iran to make a difference...what he REALLY needed were replacement "racks" & upgraded avionics, which we sabotaged before leaving in 1979.
...but that's not THE crux-he broke a major law, in favor of a very hostile nation, with expressed sole intent to supply items to be used against the US, and he should fry (espionage in wartime).
Watch him cop a plea & get off with a lesser charge thanks to some islamist kissup like stanley cohen.
Hugh-- some good news on #3, though the U.S. could certainly have gotten around to cracking down on the trade in F-14 parts much, much sooner than this year. Some of the action taken has just happened in the past few weeks and months:
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10025
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=10872
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11537
From the story at the first link given above:
The Pentagon's Defense Logistics Agency said it halted sales of certain sensitive F-14 parts in February 2006 but the ban now covered all F-14 parts until the government completed a comprehensive review of what to do with them.
"It was the right thing to do," said Dawn Dearden, spokeswoman for the Pentagon agency, citing what she called "the situation in Iran."
Western governments accuse Iran of seeking to build atomic weapons. Tehran denies the charge, saying it wants only to make electricity.
The Pentagon's move took effect on Friday and came after congressional criticism of security weaknesses that gave buyers for Iran access to the aircraft parts.
The agency, which did not disclose details of those incidents, formerly held liquidation sales of surplus parts.
The earlier halt in sales affected what the agency called "unique" F-14 parts and those "deemed critical to F-14 operations" that could be used for other aircraft.
Dearden said about 60 percent of the roughly 76,000 parts for the F-14 were general aircraft hardware that could be sold safely to the public without restrictions, but that even those sales would be halted for now.
She said the Pentagon planned to destroy some 10,000 components unique to the F-14 and was reviewing what to do with 23,000 parts that could be used for other aircraft.
Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and member of the Senate intelligence committee, has written legislation to eliminate all Pentagon sales of F-14 parts.
"I'm glad that the Pentagon is shutting the door on these weapons sales. National security, however, demands that we lock it," Wyden said. "The only way to ensure that America doesn't arm Iran is for the U.S. to permanently stop selling these weapons parts."
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The story is from early 2007.
Have you noticed everything islamists start from or are from Pakistan? why does any country allow these people into our countries? l know in Canada unfortunately being part of the screwed up past British empire, all citizens from these countries were allowed easy access into member's countries. thanks to the generousity of Britt gov't we have been infected with people from the Pak. The only export from Pakistan is terrorism, time to put a plug on this, and refuse entry from these countries.
I don't see why this is a Surprise. It really has been a lucrative Business for a Long Time. I recall seeing all kinds of Aircraft Armament System Parts on the DRMO shelves for sale that should have been destroyed. Problem is that the people selling and handling an aero57b rack or a nomenclatured radar sub part have no idea what it is. And if the Main Assembly is listed as restricted someone who knows what they are looking for can wait and search for subparts that'll slip through. It happens all the time. The Civilian Employees who work in the Defense Reutilization Warehouses really can't be expected to know everything that passes through. In the 90's Military personnel were essentially stripped almost completely from these positions and replaced with civilian supply, inventory and warehouse workers. Sure it appears things have gotten better in this regard since 9/11 but I would be willing to bet I could walk into a DRMO Warehouse on just about any given day and find some weapons or other systems part that should have been demilitarized rather than recycled available for sale. So if someone knew what they were looking for and had the time they could probably eventually find what they want. Then it's just a matter of boxing it up and shipping it out. Thankfully this one got caught and hopefully they'll drill down to clean the ring out. Of course irritating him by asking questions could be considered torture so the ring is probably safe.
We soild F-4's and F-5's to customers all over the world. In fact, the F-5 was designed for export. But we sold F-14's only to Iran. So there should be no F-14 parts from the U.S. on the open market.
The last estimates I saw a few years ago indicated that Iran had about 8 flyable F-14's, mostly due to the cannabalization of the others. With so few flyable aircraft, they are not going to put many training hours on them.
How appropriate a Pakistani Muslim uses Muslim Malaysia (the Pakistan of S.E.Asia) to transship illegal arms to Muslim Iran. Now there is a surprise wonder what the connection is ????. But don't worry too much the Malaysians are not that bright. I was there for the past few days and saw adverts for AND buildings that declare themselves to be 3 STOREY BUNGALOWS. I was at the beach too and saw raw Islam at work the guys in their swimming costumes , sun tan oil and sunglasses and sitting beside them on the deckchairs in the 35 deg C sun Mrs Muslim in head to toe black Burqa with full face veil. What is even more hilarious I saw 5 of these FULL BURQA CLAD Mobots riding a Banana Boat. The most ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my life. Now they could have been escaping terrorists or criminals or even Imams but I am sure they were women. Ahh!! sweet Islam it oozes sexual equality so much I could cry.
" why are F-14 parts being manufactured at all?
Posted by: Hugh "
.........we destoy surplus military gear every day....we continue to destroy old rockets, trucks, tanks, outdated communications gear, sink old aircraft carriers, salvalge other old navy ships to melt down for scrap metal....it would see logical to me that we no longer manufacture f-14 parts knowing that we no longer employ that plane and knowing that we have no allies using that plane...I would suspect that perhaps somewhere there is some politician receiving some financial kickback on the sale of these parts...
I support the suspension of all Arms sales to Muslim countries, I support the immediate suspension of financial aid to Muslim countries and I support a paranoid security system regarding all new weapons development systems....What weapons we have could be better if no one knows what they are...
we can also Ban Muslim Immigration and ban travel to Muslim countries...