LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/wires/20010615/tCB00V1987.html

Friday, June 15, 2001

Two Suspected Arms Dealers Held

Associated Press Writer

    WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.--Two suspected arms dealers were arrested after
allegedly negotiating with undercover agents to illegally sell military
weapons to a foreign country.
    Diaa Mohsen and Mohammed Rajaa Malik, alleged middlemen in the deal,
were arrested Tuesday after a 30 -month sting operation by the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
    Mohsen's attorney, Valentin Rodriguez, said his client was innocent
and accused the government of entrapment. "The agents and the undercover
person set everything up completely," he said. "It's like a James Bond
novel."
    Also arrested Tuesday were two men who allegedly agreed to launder
$2.2 million in what they were told was profits from illegal arms sales.
Kevin Ingram, 42, of Jersey City, N.J., and Walter Kapij, 44, of
Weathersfield, Conn., were both charged with money laundering.
    Their attorneys declined to comment on the charges, but lawyer
Richard Lubin said Ingram was a New York investment counselor. Kapij told
the court he sold airplanes.
    The investigation began in late 1998, when an informant told ATF
agents that Mohsen "was involved in illegal arms deals and purchasing arms
for other groups," according to court documents.
    Since then, more than a dozen meetings were held in South Florida,
New Jersey and New York between undercover agents, the informant, and
Mohsen and Malik, according to court records. The defendants discussed the
purchase of missiles, machine guns, grenade launchers, night-vision
goggles and other weapons, records say.
    At one 1999 meeting at a West Palm Beach warehouse, Mohsen and Malik
were secretly videotaped by government agents as they were shown machine
guns, Stinger missiles and live explosives, court records say.
    The records do not say what country the weapons were allegedly being
sold to. One buyer was allegedly described as a "well-known" former
military person who wanted to pay for the arms partially with heroin.
    Mohsen, 57, and Malik, 52, both of Jersey City, N.J., were in federal
custody pending a bond hearing next week. Bond was set Thursday for Ingram
and Kapij, and their lawyers said they expected them to be released on
bond shortly.
    Mohsen introduced the government informant to Ingram in June 1999,
according to court documents. The informant told Ingram he had "a certain
amount of cash coming in every month and needs help cleaning it up" and
Ingram agreed to launder it, the documents allege. He and Kapij were
arrested Tuesday at a Fort Lauderdale hotel.

Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times