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 Night-Vision Goggles, Infrared Aimers to Hizbullah from U.S.
by:
U.S. federal
prosecutors have charged a Canadian-naturalized Lebanese citizen with
supporting a terrorist organization through a scheme to ship night-vision
goggles and other equipment to Lebanon's Hizbullah.
Naji Antoine Abi Khalil, who holds joint Canadian-Lebanese citizenship,
was caught in a sting operation while the subject of a long-term FBI
money-laundering investigation.
The indictment filed by the office of U.S. Attorney David Kelley in
Manhattan, New York, said Khalil had been approached by an undercover FBI
agent who said he wanted to ship the goggles and infrared aiming devices
to Hizbullah members in Athens Greece.
Khalil, the chairman of an import-export shipping company in Montreal
called New Line Services, agreed to create a false bill of loading, so
that the items being shipped and the identity of the shipper would not be
revealed.
Khalil, who at one point tried on the goggles, was arrested after
accepting a down payment of $2,500 for the shipment from the undercover
agent, the indictment said.
If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 15 years imprisonment.(AFP)
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