LOS ANGELES, April 12: An Indian-born man who conspired with two others to sell shoulder-launched missiles to Al Qaeda or the Taliban has been sentenced to nearly five years in US federal prison after an international sting operation.

Ilyas Ali, who lived in Minnesota, was the second man to be sentenced after all three pleaded guilty to federal charges of plotting to supply terrorists with four Stinger missiles through the sale of heroin and hashish.

The conspiracy relates to a September 2002 sting by undercover FBI agents who followed the three from Pakistan to Hong Kong. The men were arrested in Hong Kong and extradited to San Diego, where the sting had begun as a drug investigation.

US District Court Judge M. James Lorenz in San Diego sentenced Ali to 57 months in prison. Co-defendant Mohammed Abid Afridi was given the same sentence last week. The third man, Syed Mustajab Shah is due to be sentenced in July.—Reuters