NEWARK, Jan 4: A jury was picked on Tuesday in the case of Hemant Lakhani, a British businessman arrested in August 2003 in an FBI sting operation for trying to sell missiles to militants intent on downing airliners.
The arrest of the 69-year-old Briton born in India is expected to be trumpeted by US officials in opening arguments as a victory in the war against terrorism with defence lawyers deriding the case as entrapment.
Lakhani was arrested after a two-year international sting operation and faces charges including attempting to provide material support to terrorists, unlawful arms sales and money laundering.
Lakhani, who has pleaded not guilty and has been held in jail since his arrest, faces 25 years if convicted in the federal trial before US District Judge Katharine Hayden, officials said.
Prosecutors claim they have more than 200 secretly recorded audio and video tapes revealing Lakhani knew what the Russian-imported missiles would be used for when he made a deal to provide 51 shoulder-fired weapons to an undercover informant posing as an Islamic militant.
Defence attorney Henry Klingeman contends Lakhani was goaded into the scheme with promises of a multi-million dollar payoff in a plan orchestrated by US officials keen to claim a public victory after declaring a war on terrorism following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Although authorities found no ties between Lakhani and known terrorists, US officials said his willingness to procure missiles for militants made him a threat. Lakhani worked in the women's clothing business but had previously negotiated one legal arms sale to Angola of armoured personnel carriers.
The case may hinge on the recorded conversations between Lakhani and the man who posed as the missile buyer, a Pakistani FBI counter-terrorism informant named Mohammad Habib Rehman. -Reuters
