Arms dealer guilty of illegally exporting military

[Nasir]

Arms dealer guilty of illegally exporting military hardware

March 18, 2006

A Pakistani arms dealer working out of Rosarito Beach was convicted in San Diego federal court yesterday of illegally exporting military aircraft parts on the black market. Some of the equipment wound up in Iran.

Arif Durrani, 56, worked with two men, a former Navy officer from Escondido and another arms dealer from Temecula, to illegally export millions of dollars in parts sought by the Iranian military, according to authorities.

The conviction is Durrani's second for arms dealing involving Iran. He was convicted of the same crime nearly 20 years ago in Connecticut and served five years in prison.

At the time, he said he was acting on behalf of Marine Col. Oliver North as part of the Iran-Contra effort to sell weapons to Iran in order to free American hostages and fund U.S.-backed fighters in Nicaragua.

This time, Durrani testified that he was brought into the arms deals by the two American businessmen, and they, not him, were the ones who negotiated with Iran.

He said his company, Aerospace Logistics Services in Rosarito Beach, was in the furniture business.

The two businessmen testified that Durrani arranged the arms deals and told them how to package and ship the parts so they would be more likely to get past customs agents.

For instance, a canopy for a military training aircraft was labeled as a Plexiglas panel for light aircraft, said Richard Tobey, the Temecula man.

Tobey and G. Charles Budenz II, a retired Navy commander from Escondido, both pleaded guilty and have not yet been sentenced.

Durrani's lawyer, Moe Nadim, told jurors to disregard their testimony.

“In order to save themselves, they agreed to testify against my client,” he said.

The men were involved in selling surplus military parts for the CH-47C Chinook helicopter, the F-5 jet fighter, the T-38 trainer and the J85 engine that fits both airplanes and the T55 engine on the Chinook.

The parts were shipped to buyers in Belgium, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.

In one deal, nine nozzles for Chinook jet engines were rejected by Iran Aircraft Industries, and Durrani then shipped other ones that had been refurbished, prosecutors said.

The United States sold military aircraft to Iran during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. He was overthrown by an Islamic theocracy that now seeks military parts the U.S. government doesn't want it to have.

The United States keeps a list of weapons that can't be exported without permission.

U.S. officials said Durrani was arrested in June on charges from a 1999 indictment at Los Angeles International Airport during a layover after Mexican officials deported him to Pakistan.

Durrani's lawyer said he was “kidnapped” by U.S. officials in Mexico.

Jurors convicted Durrani yesterday of conspiracy and exporting defense articles without a license. He faces up to 45 years in prison at a hearing scheduled for June 5.

“Mr. Durrani repeatedly showed disrespect of U.S. law,” said Serge Duarte, acting head of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency's San Diego office.

“He'd been convicted of this law before,” he said. “Yet he purposely violated it. He manipulated documents. He manipulated people here in the U.S. to do his work for him.”

David Pinchetti, a special agent with the Defense Criminal Investigative Service who worked the case, said illegal arms dealing is, in part, aided by the way the military disposes surplus parts.

“Brokers buy these parts, and for the most part they go into the black market or the gray market and end up in a market that's embargoed,” he said. “Unfortunately, the problem begins with the Department of Defense.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/militar...9-7m18arms.html