Got 4 in Detroit
Charles Johnson
Thu Apr 13, 2006 at 9:36 am PDT • Views: 270
4 held in plot to ship weapons. (Hat tip: Aviator.)
Four Asian businessmen plotted to buy hundreds of handguns, machine guns, Sidewinder missiles and aviation radar equipment for export to Indonesia, creating a threat to national security, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
The four men — who have been charged in Detroit and Honolulu — were arrested Sunday after meeting in Hawaii with people they thought were representatives of a metro Detroit company, which authorities say the men believed would supply the military hardware. It was to be shipped to Indonesia through Singapore.
Court papers didn’t say whether the men were buying the equipment for the Indonesian government or whether it was sting operation. The investigation was run by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in Detroit, with the assistance of Defense Criminal Investigation Service agents from Ohio.
“We consider this to be a serious and grave threat to our national security,” U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III of Detroit said Tuesday. “The agencies involved in the case worked hard to arrest individuals who were ready, willing and able to buy American weapons and take them outside the country.”
Charged were Hadianto Djoko Djuliarso, 41, of Indonesia; Ibrahim Bin Amran, 46, of Singapore, and Ignatius Ferdinandus Soeharli and David Beecroft, whose ages and nationalities weren’t disclosed.
Frank says: