US halts tech smuggling plots to Pakistan

One of the cases resulted from an anonymous tipster reaching out to US authorities because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The tension between India and Pakistan creates a complicated relationship with the United States and other Western nations.

Tap Here to Add The Daily Star As A Trusted Source

Economic sanctions imposed by the West against India and Pakistan after recent nuclear tests have been gradually lifted as both nations joined the international campaign against the al-Qaeda terror network and the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001.

In the latest prosecution, a suburban Chicago woman was charged Thursday with lying to federal agents about her efforts to send to Pakistan components for remote-controlled aircraft capable of delivering 220-pound payloads. Such aircraft are often used for battleground surveillance of enemy troops.

According to the court papers, Mariam Aidroos worked with an unnamed man who visited the United States as early as 1996 identifying himself as a radio-controlled contractor for the Pakistan military. Aidroos allegedly gave a false description of the contents of materials destined for Pakistan.

Unlike the Chicago case in which the shipments were blocked, there are cases in which authorities have not recovered equipment sent to Pakistan that US officials fear could be used for nuclear devices.

A Connecticut engineering company and its chief financial officer pleaded guilty a month ago to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the Export Administration Act. The financial officer faces up to 10 years in prison.

In a license application rejected by the Bush administration, the Connecticut company said the equipment was destined for a Pakistani development centre which prosecutors say was controlled by the Pakistani government. Despite the rejection, the Connecticut company shipped the items anyway, routing them through a third country.

The Bush administration restricts the export of munitions and other materials through strict licensing procedures.

The Commerce Department and US Customs officials were notified about the shipment by an anonymous letter sent immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, by a writer citing the attacks as the motive that prompted him to act.

"Those who illegally export sensitive US technology, especially technology with potential nuclear application, are putting this country at serious risk," Homeland Security Department official Michael Garcia said at the time of the guilty plea. All three of the latest cases were investigated by the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE, which is headed by Garcia.

Not only exotic high-tech devices are being smuggled.

In a case involving conventional arms, a Middle Eastern couple is accused in a new indictment of conspiring with two companies to send parts for military radar, armoured personnel carriers and howitzers to Pakistan.

The woman, a Jordanian national, allegedly travelled to Connecticut previously to establish relationships with military suppliers and she had planned to meet with several defence contractors when agents from the bureau of immigration and customs enforcement arrested her.