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Arms-sale conspiracy claimed


By Ken Kobayashi
Advertiser Courts Writer


 
Two men were charged here yesterday with conspiring to export military aircraft parts to a company in Indonesia in violation of the federal Arms Export Control Act.

Ignatius Ferdinandus Soeharli, also known as "Igna," and David Beecroft were charged with conspiring to export the items without a required license from the U.S. State Department.

They were charged after they arrived here Friday and met with representatives from an unnamed U.S.-based company to discuss the transactions and also view samples of machine guns and military aircraft parts, according to an affidavit by an immigration and customs enforcement agent.

Soeharli arrived from Indonesia and Beecroft from Singapore, the document said.

Undercover federal agents met with the two men as well as two others who were indicted by a federal grand jury in Michigan last week on charges of money-laundering and violating the same federal law, the affidavit said.

The two men indicted by the grand jury are Ibrahim Bin Amran and Hadianto Djoko Djuliarso, according to the affidavit.

During the meetings here, Soeharli told representatives from the U.S.-based company he was the financier for the transactions, the affidavit said. The representatives also showed the men samples of MP-5 machine guns and later showed them military aircraft parts that were to be exported, the document said.

Amran earlier said the company purchasing the military items was Ataru Indonesia, which was owned by Djuliarso, according to the document.

Federal prosecutors here did not return calls for comment on the case.

The affidavit also said:


On Jan. 5, Amran asked the U.S.-based company for a quote on 882 Heckler & Koch MP-5 submachine guns, 800 H&K 9mm handguns and 16 H&K sniper rifles. Amran was quoted a price of $3.3 million and he said he wanted to buy and export the weapons even if he could not get a license.


On March 22, federal agents received confirmation that Djuliarso and Amran ordered various military parts, including a radar assembly transmitter, antenna, amplifier, track-gate error and lock-on detector, and gyroscope. Eight days later, the two sent $447,000 to the company as partial payment.


On Wednesday, Amran sent an e-mail to the company saying "everybody will be arriving on the same flight." On Friday, the four men facing federal charges arrived at the airport.


During a meeting Friday, Amran read off a request for a quote on how many parts for a machine gun he needed for his order.


On Saturday, the company representatives showed the four men facing charges MP-5 machine guns. The representatives also made clear that a license is required for exporting the items. The company representatives and the four men later viewed military aircraft parts that had been ordered.

Reach Ken Kobayashi at [email protected].

crazy

These guys were in Hawaii or no?

Quoted: These guys were in Hawaii or no?

Yes.
"Here" and "the airport" refer to Hawaii.  It's a Honolulu Advertiser article.

$3.3 million worth of H&K firearms plus other hardware. It would be interesting to find out who these guys were supposed to be dealing with. Can somebody play the Miami Vice theme?

Quoted: $3.3 million worth of H&K firearms plus other hardware. It would be interesting to find out who these guys were supposed to be dealing with.

Probably JI (al-Qaeda in Indonesia)

Quoted: Quoted: These guys were in Hawaii or no? Yes. "Here" and "the airport" refer to Hawaii.  It's a Honolulu Advertiser article.

They couldve let me in on the MP5 deal, I could use a couple...

That many MP5's, dreamland!  Although, the estimated 3.3 million bucks sounds awfully conservative!

Quoted: $3.3 million worth of H&K firearms plus other hardware. It would be interesting to find out who these guys were supposed to be dealing with. Can somebody play the Miami Vice theme?

Security Aviation of course .