A British arms dealer was arrested in Newark yesterday after he smuggled a shoulder-fired missile into the United States – and wanted to sell it to Muslim terrorists to shoot down a large passenger plane, sources said.
Two others involved in the plot were seized in Manhattan in what was described as a wide-ranging sting operation by the FBI, Secret Service and British and Russian agents.
The alleged smuggler, a British national of Indian descent in his 60s, thought he was selling the state-of-the-art missile to terrorists, sources said.
But the buyer was an undercover FBI agent.
The smuggler was recorded on tape saying he wanted the missile, a portable Russian-made Igla 9K38, to be used to shoot down a large passenger jet, the BBC reported.
He arrived here with his wife on Sunday on a British Airways flight from London but was followed every step of the way by federal investigators.
The suspect was arrested at a Newark hotel yesterday morning after claiming a crate with the suspected missile, The Times of London reported.
The crate, marked “medical supplies,” had been watched since it arrived by ship at a dock in Baltimore, the BBC said.
Sources said there was no indication the suspect was connected to al Qaeda or any other terrorist group.
“He’s an arms dealer. He was trying to complete the sale of shoulder-fired missiles. He thought he was dealing with the Russians,” a law-enforcement official told The Post.
Another source told The Post there was never any danger – because Russian investigators had made the missile inoperable before it was smuggled across the Atlantic.
Two suspects allegedly connected to the dealer were arrested yesterday afternoon in the Diamond District.
One of them was described as an Afghan national. No other arrests were expected here.
“We got everyone we wanted in the U.S.,” a law-enforcement source told Fox News.
Late yesterday officers of the Joint Terrorism Task Force removed boxes from the Ambuy Gem Corp., 1 West 47th St., where the arrests took place.
“It’s ridiculous,” said Gideon Abraham, who said his father, Yehuda, was one of the two men arrested. He refused further comment. Yehuda Abraham was believed to be the owner of the gem firm.
Details of the case were sealed in a federal indictment in federal court in Newark.
But British news reports said the alleged smuggler is a London-based arms dealer who was first suspected five months ago by Russian investigators in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Other sources said the investigation had begun a year ago.
The dealer bought the Igla for $85,000 from corrupt middle management at a Russian factory, the BBC said.
It was not known when the U.S. emerged as a possible market, but Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized the FBI to send an undercover agent to Russia at one point.
BBC correspondent Tom Mangold said the suspect spoke of shooting down Air Force One – but the FBI and other agencies vigorously denied that the presidential jet or any specific target was mentioned.
Security experts have been haunted for years by the prospect that a Stinger-like missile could bring down a jumbo jet.
Two shoulder-fired missiles like the Igla were launched by terrorists in Kenya last November but narrowly missed an Israeli passenger jet.
The Igla-18 is accurate for up to three miles and can be operated by a single person, according to arms experts.
It was not clear how large the smuggling operation was but further arrests were expected in England and Russia.
Despite the arrests, there was no particular alert from the Department of Homeland Security, which is currently reviewing existing technology to defend planes from surface-to-air missiles.
“We do not have intelligence information that terrorists in this country currently possess these types of weapons,” said homeland security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
“The threat facing commercial airliners from shoulder-fired missiles here in the United States is no longer theoretical,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said.
“The danger of an airliner being shot down by one of these missiles is now staring the Homeland Security Department in the face,” said Schumer, who wants to outfit commercial airplanes with missile-jamming devices immediately.
DEADLY WEAPON
Name: Igla 9K38 portable surface-to-air missile system (launcher and missile)
Code name: SA-18 GROUSE
Introduced: 1983
Crew: One; shoulder-launched; 16-second delay between launches
Top speed: Mach 2 (approximately 1,400 mph)
Weight: Missile 23 pounds; launcher 3 pounds
Warhead: 2 kilogram, high-explosive fitted with contact fuse
Guidance: Infrared system using “proportional convergence logic”
Range: Up to 3.2 miles straight, and up to 2.1 miles into the air
Probability of kill (against unprotected jet fighter): 30 to 40 percent
Sources: U.S. Army Aviation Center, Military Analysis Network