Pakistani sentenced in drugs-for-missiles plot to aid terrorists

By: Associated Press | Monday, April 3, 2006 6:02 PM PDT ∞

SAN DIEGO -- A federal judge sentenced a Pakistani man Monday to nearly five years in prison for his admitted role in a drugs-for-weapons plot to sell Stinger anti-aircraft missiles to the Taliban and al-Qaida.

Muhamed Abid Afridi, 32, of Peshawar, Pakistan pleaded guilty in March 2004 to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and one count of conspiracy to distribute heroin and hashish.

Two other men pleaded guilty to the same charges. The lead defendant, Syed Mustajab Shah, 57, also of Pakistan, entered his plea Thursday and is scheduled for sentencing on June 19. Sentencing for Ilyas Ali, 58, of St. Paul, Minn., a naturalized U.S. citizen born in India, is set for April 10.

Afridi admitted that he tried to sell five tons of hashish and a half-ton of heroin to undercover U.S. law enforcement officials in 2002 in exchange for cash and four shoulder-fired Stinger missiles, which he and the other defendants intended to sell to members of the Taliban. Such missiles could be used to shoot down airplanes, including commercial jets, flying at low altitudes.

According to prosecutors, Afridi knew at the time that the Taliban was the same as al-Qaida.

Defense attorney John George Cotsirilos did not immediately return a phone message left seeking comment.

Shah, Ali and Afridi were arrested on Sept. 20, 2002, by police in Hong Kong who received a tip from the FBI. The three were secretly videotaped in meetings days earlier with undercover FBI agents at a Hong Kong hotel.

Ali also met in April 2002 with an undercover agent in San Diego.

"Today's sentence demonstrates that those who help terrorists will pay a heavy price," said U.S. Attorney Carol Lam.

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