Iranian Arms Cache Plane Detained in Syria

ANKARA, TURKEY (BNO NEWS) -- Turkey on Friday informed the United Nations Security Council that it seized an illegal weapons shipment from Iran that intended to reach Syria, the Sabah newspaper reported. The Turkish government said that the weapons cache was being illegally exported to Syria in breach of a UN arms embargo. The illegal cargo was discovered on March 21 and may result in further financial sanctions against Iranian institutions. Turkey delivered a report to the Security Council's Iran sanctions committee which oversees the compliance with the four rounds of sanctions imposed over the Islamic country by the 15-member body. On March 21, an Iranian airplane was forced to land in the southern province of Diyarbakir. A subsequent search on the aircraft registered with the Iranian YAS Aviation resulted in the seizure of a weapons cache. Inside the plane bound for Aleppo, Syria, authorities located

• 60 Kalashnikov AK-47 assault rifles


• 14 BKC/Bixi machine guns,


• nearly 8,000 rounds of BKC/AK-47 ammunition


• 560 60-mm mortar shells


• 1,288 120-mm mortar shells. "The crew were detained and interrogated by the Diyarbakir officials," the report said. "They denied any knowledge about the prohibited items on board, as well as the identity of the individual or individuals responsible for the attempted illegal export." The crew and the plane were released and allowed to return to their native country but the illegal cargo was not returned. The U.S. and Israel suspect Iran uses Syria as a for weapons transfers to militant groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. The Rest @ BNO News

The Charges Against the Iran Arms Traffickers in Nigeria

On 17 July 2010, Nigerian officials captured 13 containers of arms marked as "glass and straw" in Lagos, Nigeria; the weapons came from Iran, a well known France-based Quds front company, and were likely aimed for the Nigerian Taliban in Northern Nigeria. Iran has intervened at the high levels, including sending visitors to Nigeria. Azim Aghajani, commander of Quds in Africa was originally arrested, but was released when Iranian Officials Visited Nigeria.
The UN is conducting its own investigation.

What follows are the charges for the remaining two people in captivity. It appears one of the detainees has written a statement.

-Shimron


Lagos (WorldStage Newsonline)-- Justice Okrchukwu Okeke of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Friday admitted in evidence a state by one of the two persons, Alli Abass, Jega been trial by the Federal Government for allegedly importing thirteen container loads of firearms in tow the country from Iran.

According to the judge the accused person made the statement to the State Security Service (SSS) voluntarily.

The two men, an Iranian, Azm Aghajani and Jega, a Nigerian clearing agent were arrested last year after the arms were discovered at a port in Lagos.

It will be recalled that when the prosecuting counsel, Mrs. Olufemi Fatunde attempted to tender the document as exhibit the Thursday, Jega’s lawyer, Aliyu Musa Yawuri objected on the ground that the document sought to be tendered was not admissible in law.

The development forced the presiding judge, Justice Okechukwu Okeke to adjourn the case to Friday for ruling on the admissibility of the document.

Ruling on the objection, Justice Okeke held that the document was admissible in law because the statement was voluntarily made by the second accused.

According to Justice Okeke; “it would have been a different matter if not voluntarily made, and his lawyer, Yawuri, did not deny that his client made the statement.”

Also during the proceedings Aghajani’s lawyer, Chris Uche (SAN) on Friday accused the SSS and the lawyers handling the prosecution of frustrating his efforts to defend his clients adequately by refusing to make available to him, many of the documents he intends to use in defending his client, despite repeated demands.

He stated that one of such documents was a computer print-out of an e-mail message sent to Aghajani, by Jega.

Uche also accused the SSS of denying him access to his client, stressing that this constituted another dimension of frustration.

But an attempt by Uche to move a bail application for his client was turned down by the judge, who insisted that the matter was slated for the conclusion of the prosecution’s witness testimony.

The court, however, adjourned till March 7 for hearing of bail applications.
According to the three-count charge: the accused were in

• count one accused of importing thirteen container loads of firearms, which was prohibited under Part 1 of the Schedule to the Firearms Act, Cap F.28, laws of the Federation, 2004.
  
• count two, the accused persons were alleged to have imported the firearms without licence contrary to Section 18 of the Firearms Act, Cap F.28, laws of the Federation, 2004 and punishable under Section 27 of the same Act.

• count three, the accused were said to have recklessly made a false declaration of the firearms as glass wool and pallets of stone on the Original Bill of Lading. The offence, according to the charge, is contrary to Section 161 (1) (a) of the Customs and Excise Management Act, Cap C45, laws of the Federation, 2004.

The crime was allegedly committed on July 17, 2010.

The Rest @ World Stage

Roman Ring Smuggle Mujahadin to Europe using Hawalas

Rome. Italian police said Wednesday they had arrested 26 suspected members of a gang operating in Rome Internet cafes that smuggled hundreds of Afghans into Europe including possible Islamist militants, AFP reports.

Two more suspects had been taken into custody in France and Germany."Some of those being investigated are suspected of involvement in international terrorism," Piero Saviotti, a prosecutor in Rome, told reporters.The gang was made up mainly of Afghans, Kurds and Pakistanis and used the hawala money transfer system popular in the Middle East and North Africa.

Up to 200 Afghans including some 40 minors were brought into Italy and on to other parts of Europe every month by the gang, investigators said.The immigrants came mainly from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border and were brought to Italy through staging points in Iraq, Iran and Greece.

The Rest @ Focus Fen

Viktor Bout Tries to tell Kremlin he will keep Quiet

Viktor continues his dance...

****************
By Andrew Osborn, Moscow 9:00PM GMT 09 Jan 2011

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, international lawyer Robert Amsterdam said that Mr Bout, who was extradited to America from Thailand in November, possessed a treasure trove of compromising information.

"It is limitless," said Mr Amsterdam. "He is connected to Russia's shadow state and the most powerful elements of the power elite. He has tremendous information on how that shadow state works and on its dealings with Venezuela, Iran and across Asia.

"It would be an intelligence coup to debrief this man if he will allow himself to be debriefed."

In a recent interview with Russia's RIA Novosti news agency from his New York prison cell, Mr Bout disclosed how US authorities had tried to get him to break his silence.

"I was offered a milder sentence, a lower prison term and the possibility to bring my family to the US if I tell them everything I know about my ties in Russia and other countries," he said.

"But I replied that I had nothing to tell them and that I don't know anything about the subjects they are interested in."

Mr Bout, who is often referred to as the 'Lord of War' because of a 2005 Hollywood film based on his life of the same name, was arrested in 2008 in Thailand after a sting operation masterminded by the US Drug Enforcement Agency.

Federal agents said they caught him offering to supply weapons to people he believed were Columbian FARC rebels.

The 43-year-old former Soviet army translator founded a vast air transport empire after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union that allegedly supplied weapons to fuel a string of wars in Africa and the Middle East.

Washington's battle to extradite him faced serious opposition from Moscow, which reacted with fury when it learnt he had been secretly flown to America to face trial.

The Kremlin and his family continue to insist he is an ordinary businessman.

Mr Bout, who has pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges, is due to appear in a New York court on January 21 for an initial hearing. If found guilty, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison and a minimum of 25 years.

The Rest @ The Telegrapah (UK)

Sengal Severs Relations with Iran over Arms Smuggling

Senegal is "disatisfied" with Iran's answers to why they allowed a "private" Iranian company to ship Arms apparently aimed for Senegal (stopped by customs in Nigeria).


-Shimron Issachar

Senegal has recalled its ambassador to Iran, saying that Tehran had failed to provide a "satisfactory" explanation for an arms shipment seized in Nigeria.

The weapons were found hidden among building materials on a ship docked in Lagos in October.
An Iranian man and three Nigerians have been accused of attempting to import the arms and send them to The Gambia, which cut ties with Iran last month.

But there has been speculation that they were destined for south Senegal.
Despite a peace deal, a low-level separatist rebellion simmers in Casamance, a region cut off from the rest of Senegal by The Gambia.

The Iranian government has said only that the shipment belonged to a private company and was being sent to a "West African country".

"True to the need for peace and security which should guide ties between states, and deeming not satisfactory the explanations provided by the Iranian side in this affair, Senegal has decided to recall its ambassador to Iran for consultations as of today," the foreign ministry said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Monouchehr Mottaki was sacked on Monday while on an official trip to Senegal. No reasons were given.

Nigeria charges Iranian over arms 25 NOVEMBER 2010, AFRICA

The Rest @ The BBC

Here's how they know....

When you say something is not there.....they know when its not true

European Bank for Development and Reconstruction and BeltechExport

European Bank for Development and Reconstruction seems to be interested in Beltechexport, a Belorussian arms manufacturer, recently under US Sanctions for trafficking arms with Iran.

The bank is active in Central Asia, the Caucasus and Eastern Europe
193.128.202.132 came to visit 23rd November 2010 13:29:15
Through Google UK

shimronletters.blogspot.com/2010/09/beltech-export-and-others-under-us.html

So they at least The bank now cannot say they didn't know.

Shimron Issachar

financial-secrecy consultants - Their Role in Terror and Trafficking

What follows is an article about Ho financiual secrecy consultants equipped and facilitated Arms Transfers from North Korea to Iran.

It's time to cataloge and Assess these firms and their business clients.

Shimron Issachar

*****************
SINCE THAI POLICE SEIZED A plane smuggling 35 tons of explosives and anti-aircraft missiles from North Korea to Iran on December 12, investigators around the world have tried to peel back many corporate and human layers to find the arms traffickers who flouted the United Nations ban against North Korean arms exports.

Whoever the arms smugglers were, they availed themselves of the same network of shell companies as was flagged by a Wachovia Bank anti-money-laundering officer in his 2008 whistleblower claim that the bank squelched his reports of suspicious financial activities ("Blowing the Whistle -- and Paying the Price," March 9, 2009).

The Wachovia wire transfers and the North Korean arms shipment were conducted under the names of corporations owned by VicAm (Auckland) Ltd., a New Zealand corporation provided by financial-secrecy consultants

GT Group, based in the South Pacific island of Vanuatu. VicAm has also appeared recently in sales by the state oil company of Azerbaijan and in a public-corruption scandal in Romania.

GT Group says it has no knowledge of what clients do with GT's nominee services. No authorities have charged GT Group or VicAm with wrongdoing.

The founder of GT Group is a resourceful 66-year-old named Geoffrey Taylor, who's spent decades promoting tax avoidance and financial secrecy from New Zealand and Vanuatu. Along the way, he's offered himself as a corporate director sporting the 800-year-old title of Lord of the Manor of Stubbington; obtained knighthood from an ersatz principality in the Australian outback, and gotten a Ph.D. from an online university of which he is president.

Sir Geoffrey's many Websites have hawked "Grand Ph.D.s" from "Standford University," passports from the Principality of Hutt River, dummy corporations for privacy-minded "politicians" and "spouses," and Vanuatu-based mutual funds that he claims were top-rated by Lipper. You can admire these feats at www.geoffreytaylor.net.

Sir Geoffrey seemed less eager for publicity when Barron's asked about the North Korean weapons. "Why are you chasing me?" he replied by e-mail. "I resigned from GT Group in 2004. I have no wish to talk to you about something I know nothing about." Taylor has disclaimed ownership of the GT Group and the Lord Stubbington Nominee Service, which he operated until passing the baton -- and the feudal title -- to his sons Michael and Ian.

But New Zealand records showed him as controlling shareholder of VicAm Ltd. right up through Sept. 8. That was a month and a half after Geoffrey's son Michael registered a New Zealand corporation called SP Trading as a wholly owned subsidiary of VicAm.

SP Trading became news on December 12, when intelligence agencies urged Thai police to inspect an Ilyushin-76 plane that stopped to refuel in Bangkok en route from Pyongyang to Tehran.

The airway bill described the cargo as "oilfield equipment" but inside the 147 cartons were explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and computerized missile launchers.

The flight crew of Kazakh and Byelorussian nationals professed ignorance of their cargo contents.
So did the GT Group, when documents revealed that the plane had been leased to SP Trading.

Contracts obtained by the anti-arms-trafficking nonprofits TransArms and IPIS showed that SP Trading had leased the Il-76 on November 5 and agreed on December 4 to fly the North Korean shipment at the behest of a Hong Kong-domiciled company.

After newspaper inquiries, GT Group issued a statement from Vanuatu saying that it had formed SP Trading at the request of a "professional client" in the U.K., and outfitted it with VicAm as nominee shareholder and a woman named Lu Zhang as nominee director. SP Trading said it knew nothing of the armaments.

Speaking for its employees, associates and corporations, the GT Group said none had knowledge of SP Trading's activities and "are in no way involved with the shipment of any items of any kind, at any location and by any means."

When Barron's asked Ian Taylor to identify SP Trading's beneficial owner -- or the U.K. client who'd ordered up the shell company -- Taylor said that information was confidential and would only be disclosed to New Zealand authorities upon their request.

GT Group isn't responsible for the activities of its customers, said Ian Taylor in his e-mailed reply. "GT Group and all its employees and management take great care to identify clients and prevent any illegal activity," he wrote. "GT Group Limited is a service provider and not a detective agency."

A spokeswoman for New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the agency is trying to verify "whether there's any substance to the allegations reported in the media." New Zealand has become a worrisome jurisdiction to international organizations that combat money-laundering and the financing of terrorism. An October 16 evaluation by the OECD's Financial Action Task Force praised New Zealand's passage of new anti-money-laundering statutes. But the FATF report said the nation's loose incorporation laws risk abuse.

The little nation's corporations have had wide reach. The GT Group's nominee- shareholder unit, VicAm Ltd., popped up as the winner of a recent million-barrel oil auction by the Azerbaijan government. It has won lucrative public-works contracts in Romania and created a stir when newspapers suggested that government officials were getting a piece of the action, which the officials denied.

Directors of GT Group shells are citizens of Vanuatu or the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. "Our owners and staff are all locals," says another Taylor Website. "We do not employ citizens of other countries who can be leaned upon when they return to their own countries." A Seychelles islander named Stella Port-Louis has hired on as director of hundreds of corporations -- even some domiciled in Wyoming, as U.S. Senator Carl Levin and then-Senator Barack

Obama noted two years ago in a statement that urged U.S. states to tighten up their own laws governing nominee shareholders.

Ms. Port-Louis turned up as director of a number of New Zealand corporations sponsored by GT Group, which caught the attention of Martin Woods, then a Wachovia U.K. compliance official. In June 2008 and March 2009, Woods sent whistle blowing memos to regulators about suspicious transactions featuring GT Group nominees.

He described how Wachovia had passed along some $40 million from the Latvian bank accounts of four New Zealand corporations, all with their named director being the Seychelles-based Stella Port-Louis and their shareholder being the GT Group's VicAm. Port-Louis did not respond to e-mailed queries. Woods eventually settled his employment suit with Wachovia, which offered no comment. None of the transactions has resulted in regulatory action.

"Perhaps a hardware store should not be allowed to sell bolt cutters," Ian Taylor joked in an e-mail.

-- Bill Alpert

The Rest @ Barrons Magazine, 1/4/2010

Sunni Group Bombs Shias

Somehow, the US is to balme for a sunni suicide bombing aginst Shiites....

-Shimron Issachar

************************

Sunni Muslim rebel group Jundollah has claimed responsibility for the attack near the Grand Mosque in Zahedan, which it says was in retaliation for the execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi last month.Iranian clerical leaders have claimed the attack was supported by the U.S. in order to create instability in the Middle East country.

The powerful bombs killed at least 28 people at the holy site, including elite members of the Revolutionary Guard, and were apparently carried out by relatives of Abdolmalek Rigi.

Al Arabiya television reported: ‘The group said the suicide attacks were carried out by Abdolbaset Rigi and Mohammad Rigi… and warned of more operations to come.’

Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said the U.S. should be held accountable for the ‘terrorist acts in Zahedan’ because of its support for Jundollah.

Cleric Kazem Sediqi said in a sermon broadcast on state radio today: ‘Once more the wicked hand of America appeared out of the sleeves of ignorant and mercenary people.’

The Rest @ Focus

Vanuatu-based GT Group Behind North Korean Arms Shipment

Vanatu, an Island 2200 KM East of Australia, near Fiji is the base for GT Group, the owners of Viacom, a company formed in Aukland, New Zealand about 6 months ago. Viacom chartered the Viktor Bout Ilyushin-76 aircraft that was transporting 35 tonnes or arms, 140 crates, to parts unknown, possilby Iran. During a stopover,The plane was detained in Thiland, and TBDA suggests the deal may have been set up and coordinated by Russian Speakers out of Uzbekistan.

-Shimron Issachar


WELLINGTON (AFP) – The New Zealand government said Thursday it was investigating whether there were any links between a New Zealand-registered company and a huge cache of weapons flown out of North Korea.

The 35-tonne load, including missiles and rocket-propelled grenades, was discovered after the plane and its Belarussian pilot and four Kazakh crew landed to refuel at Bangkok's domestic airport on Friday.

A New Zealand foreign ministry spokeswoman said it was investigating reported New Zealand links to the shipment.

"We are aware of the media reports and are seeking to verify any substance to allegations of a New Zealand connection," the spokeswoman said.

Officials in Kazakhstan -- where an airline previously owned the seized Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft -- said the plane had been leased by the Georgian owners to a company called SP Trading in New Zealand.

"According to the information of the Kazakh diplomatic mission in Thailand and competent organs in Kazakhstan, the detained Ilyushin-76 aircraft was... rented to a New Zealand company, SP Trading Limited, to carry out the delivery of cargo," Kazakh foreign ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov said Monday.

A company called SP Trading is on the New Zealand Companies Register with an office in Auckland. The only listed director is Lu Zhang and all the company shares are owned by another company Vicam (Auckland) Ltd.

Vicam in turn is owned by Vanuatu-based GT Group, whose website says it provides services including privacy, legal tax avoidance, and asset protection.

Attempts by journalists to visit or contact SP Trading, which was incorporated in July this year, and Zhang have been unsuccessful, New Zealand media reports said.

The Soviet-era aircraft was seized in the Thai capital on Friday during a refuelling stop and was discovered to be carrying about 35 tonnes of weapons from North Korea, in violation of UN sanctions against Pyongyang.

The plane's five crew members have been charged in Thailand with possessing war weapons but police said they deny knowing what they were transporting.

On Monday, a Thai court extended the detention of the crew so police could investigate further.

It is the first known airborne arms cargo seized under the latest UN resolution against North Korea -- adopted in response to Pyongyang's nuclear programme -- and Washington has hailed it as proof sanctions have been effective.

Thai media have claimed the authorities were tipped off about the plane by US intelligence.

The Rest @ AFP

Russian S-300 Missils Captured in Route to Iran

A CARGO ship that vanished in the Channel was carrying arms to Iran and was being tracked by Mossad, the Israeli security service, according to sources in both Russia and Israel.

The Arctic Sea, officially carrying a cargo of timber worth £1.3m, disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria on July 24. It was recovered off west Africa on August 17 when eight alleged hijackers were arrested. The Kremlin has consistently denied that the vessel was carrying a secret cargo. It claims the ship was hijacked by criminals who demanded a £1m ransom.

The official version was challenged by sources in Tel Aviv and Moscow who claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad.

Mossad, which closely monitors arms supplies to Iran, is said to have tipped off the Russian government that the shipment had been sold by former military officers linked to the underworld.

Russian Navy joins hunt for missing 'piracy' ship
Piracy fears as cargo ship disappears off UK coast

Multimedia

The Kremlin then ordered a naval rescue mission which involved destroyers and submarines. Any evidence that the Kremlin had let advanced weaponry fall into the hands of criminals or be sold to Iran would be highly embarrassing, so military officials believe a “cover story” was concocted.

• “The official version is ridiculous and was given to allow the Kremlin to save face,” said a Russian military source.
• “I’ve spoken to people close to the investigation and they’ve pretty much confirmed Mossad’s involvement.
• It’s laughable to believe all this fuss was over a load of timber. I’m not alone in believing that it was carrying weapons to Iran.”
  

The alleged hijackers, four Estonians, two Russians and two Latvians, will go on trial in Moscow. According to the Kremlin’s account, they boarded the Arctic Sea in the Baltic by claiming their inflatable craft was in trouble and then took over the ship at gunpoint.

Sources in Moscow suggested Mossad may have played a part in the alleged hijacking by setting up a criminal gang, who were unlikely to have known anything about a secret cargo. “The best way for the Israelis to block the cargo from reaching Iran would have been to create a lot of noise around the ship,” said a former army officer.

“Once the news of the hijack broke, the game was up for the arms dealers. The Russians had to act. That’s why I don’t rule out Mossad being behind the hijacking. It stopped the shipment and gave the Kremlin a way out so that it can now claim it mounted a brilliant rescue mission.”

According to Israeli military sources, Israel received intelligence that weapons bound for Iran were being loaded in Kaliningrad, a port notorious for gun runners. “A decision was then taken to inform the Kremlin,” said the source.

Had the S-300 missiles been delivered, Iran would have significantly strengthened its air defences. An Israeli air force source said that in the event of an attack on Iranian nuclear installations, such missiles could increase Israeli casualties by 50%.

Since the Arctic Sea was retaken, Russia has imposed a security blackout. The hijackers, the crew and two investigative teams were flown back to Moscow in three Il-76 air freight planes. For more than a week after being freed the crew were not allowed to talk to their families. The captain and three crew are still on board the ship, which has resumed its voyage to Algeria, but they have not been able to call home.

Last week Mikhail Voitenko, an outspoken piracy expert who disputed the Kremlin’s original version of events, fled Russia, claiming he had received threats from an official angered by his statements.

Admiral Tarmo Kouts, former commander of Estonia’s armed forces and the European Union’s rapporteur on piracy, has infuriated Moscow by saying the only plausible explanation of the mystery is that the ship was transporting weapons. A spokesman for the Finnish owners denied that missiles could have been secretly loaded onto the ship.

Sources who suspect Mossad’s involvement point to a visit to Moscow by Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, the day after the Arctic Sea was rescued. Peres held four hours of private talks with Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president.

Although the Israeli foreign ministry would not be drawn on the Arctic Sea, it confirmed that the two leaders had discussed the sale of Russian weapons to countries hostile to Israel. According to Israeli officials, Peres received verbal guarantees from the Russians that they would not sell advanced weapons systems to Iran or Syria.

“Clearly the Israelis played a role in the whole Arctic Sea saga,” said a Russian military source. “Peres used the incident as a bargaining chip over the issue of arms sales to Arab states, while Israel allowed the Kremlin a way out with its claims to have successfully foiled a piracy incident.”

The Rest @ The Times Online

Iran Bank Tejarat, Romania Bank ProCredit

Iranian Bank Tejarat may have tried to establish a relationship with Romania SC ProCredit Bank SA.on or around 16 July 2009. Bank Tejarat is on the OFAC List

Aleged Real Life Arms Trafficking Story of Far West Ltd

The arms trafficking adventures of Far West Lt or Far West LLC, as they are now called
The following Story reads a bit like a Jason Bourne movie, perhaps too much like a movie to be true, but here it is:

I do know that Cyprus is the past and current shipment of may arms trafficking deals by many countries.

-Shimron Issachar

SARFRAZ Haider died when the quad bike he was riding hit a wall at relatively low speed in Cyprus in January, 2004.

The bizarre, but seemingly innocuous accident that took the life of the Australian businessman was treated almost perfunctorily by the local police.

But for Mr Haider's family it was the culmination of a bizarre plot -- worthy of a spy thriller -- in which nuclear missiles were allegedly stolen from the Russians and sold to Iran for $63 million.
Mr Haider's eldest son, Sam, has revealed the story of his father's shadowy life to the Sunday Herald Sun after spending four years and thousands of dollars trying to get to the truth. He plans to write a book on the saga.

He has pieced together details of his father's life, along with deals from company records and the accounts of his business associates.

And an investigation by this newspaper has confirmed the details of many of his claims.

"It is amazing to me, but my dad was an arms dealer who was turning over hundreds of millions of dollars," Sam said this week.

"He was close to some seriously dangerous people and he lived an incredible, jet-set life.
"But in the end, I believe, it caught up with him. The deals and the intrigue, that's what killed him."

Sarfraz Haider, an Australian citizen of Afghan-Iranian origin, lived in Canberra and Sydney for almost two decades before leaving his family and moving to London and then Cyprus in 2000.

He became one of the world's leading arms dealers who is said to have brokered deals worth more than $10 billion. His code name was "Dex".

[Here is the Story]

• After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia's nuclear arsenals in its satellite states were dismantled and sent home, or destroyed.
  

In the Ukraine, in 2001, some of this arsenal disappeared.

Up to 20 nuclear-capable Kh-55 missiles -- with a 3000km range -- and four 200-kiloton nuclear warheads were stolen by a shadowy group of former Russian and Ukrainian intelligence and military officers. What happened to these weapons is the subject of international debate and much speculation. But one version of events, supported by documents obtained from the Ukrainian parliament and the investigations of the Haider family, is that they ended up in Iran and China.

Letters written by Hryhoriy Omelchenko, a former intelligence colonel to Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, give details of the arms deal.

• The letters also confirm Mr Haider, 53, was suspected of being part of the arms trafficking gang that sold the missiles to Iran and China.
• The group used a fake contract and end-user certificate with Russia's state-run arms dealer and with a company called Ukrspetseksport -- Ukraine's weapons exporting agency -- to conceal the sale of the weapons that were officially listed as destroyed, the letters reveal.

While wrangling with lawyers and local officials over his father's estate in Cyprus, Sam Haider was contacted by a man called Ruslan Saidov, who claimed to be a friend and business associate of Sarfraz.
"Saidov told me the whole story," said Sam, who runs a Sydney import-export business.
"He said the theft of the missiles was masterminded by the partners of an intelligence and military consultancy firm called Far West Ltd ( now Far West LLC ).

"He said my father had been killed because the people at Far West and their Iranian partners feared the Americans would get to him and make him tell them about the missiles.
"They feared that he knew too much information about their dealings, and knew more information than anybody else."

• Far West's partners, all former Russian or Ukranian military or intelligence officers, had close contacts with military figures and mafia groups within Russia and its former satellites.
• They spirited the missiles out of the Ukraine and shipped them to Cyprus under the auspices of a company called SH Heritage Holdings -- whose owner and sole director was Sarfraz Haider.
• The missiles were crated up and marked as "turbine parts" intended for Iran's oil industry.
• Six of the missiles and two warheads were then allegedly shipped to Iran with the acquiescence of the Iranian secret service.
• Six more missiles and another two warheads were shipped to China.
• The deals were said to be worth more than $126 million.
• Mr Saidov revealed himself to Sam Haider as one of the partners in Far West.

Another partner, Oleg Orlov, was arrested in the Czech Republic in 2005 over the missile theft.

• He was extradited to the Ukraine, but died in jail after his throat was slit.
• A third partner, Vladimir Filin, has disappeared.
• Six men were eventually indicted over the missile sales and Ukrainian businessman Sergei Petrov, a former a partner in Far West, blew the whistle to German authorities on other illicit arms deals.

He alleged Far West had smuggled portable surface-to-air missiles to FARC guerrillas in Colombia in return for 600kg of cocaine,

He also accused Far West of supplying weapons -- including mortars, assault rifles and ammunition -- to ethic Albanians in the Macedonian conflict and Palestinians attacking Israeli targets.

Petrov was later blown up in his own car around the time Sarfraz Haider died.

Another member of the gang, Valery Malev, who was based in Kiev, died in mysterious circumstances in 2002.

Sam Haider claims the fortune his father amassed selling arms has largely disappeared.
He blames Mr Haider's business partners, and local lawyers and officials in Cyprus.

"The money has all gone and no one can tell us where it is," he said.
"When we went to Cyprus to find out what had happened we were met with brick walls."
Up to $12.6 million is missing from Mr Haider's accounts, and there are doubts about the fate of his properties in Cyprus, Sam claimed.

At the heart of the mystery is the role of Mr Haider's mistress and her family, who are allegedly linked to the Russian mafia. He said the chance discovery of a memory stick hidden inside his father's mattress was the first clue to the scale and seriousness of the arms deals.

"We couldn't believe it. We found this USB stick and on it were all these records of deals and financial transactions," Sam said.

The family never accepted the official "accidental" finding on Mr Haider's death, but an autopsy on his body, conducted by his brother, Dr Tedo Haider, from Batlow in NSW, heightened their suspicions.

Dr Haider claims his brother's neck had been broken, his aorta split and there were signs of a struggle.

"We want the truth to come out and we want justice," Sam said.

"This story needs to be told. There needs to be an accounting, and the world needs to know what is going on with these arms deals.

"We think there has been a cover- up. We think people have been paid off; my father's death and the events surrounding it need to be investigated properly."

Sam said he has been told his father had close connections to Iran's secret service, that he was the go-between for the Iranians in gaining nuclear secrets from the Pakistani atomic engineer A.Q. Khan, and that in 1986-87, he oversaw shipments of special military equipment and technical co-operation to Iran from Russia.

• "The sale of the missiles, Far West's involvement in it and the links to the A.Q. Khan syndicate in Pakistan -- I believe that's what led to my father's murder," Sam said.
  At the time of his brother's death, Dr Haider asked the then Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Attorney General Philip Ruddock to intervene.
• The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation has a file on the case and the Australian Federal Police and Interpol carried out an investigation in Cyprus.
  However, according to an AFP source the results were "inconclusive".

The Rest @ News.com (Australia)

Three Iranian Arms Traffickers Sentenced in the UK

Three businessmen have been jailed for a total of 10 years at Southwark Crown Court in the UK for arms trafficking to Iran.

The three men, two of whom were of Iranian origin, were charged with obtaining parts to be used as spares for Iran's ageing fleet of military aircraft, including F-14 Tomcats, F-4 Phantoms, F-5 Tigers and Cobra attack helicopters, the UK government's News Distribution Service (NDS) said on 4 June.

The Rest @ Janes Defense

The "Research Institute Of Petroleum Industry" is looking methods to Reinforce Rubber Materials

The Research Institute Of Petroleum Industry is looking for methods for a method for reinforcing perfluoroelastomer compositions ....

The organization is

• listed by the Japanese government in 2007 as an entity of concern for proliferation relating to biological and chemical weapons;
• listed by the British government in 2007 as an entity of potential concern for WMD-related procurement; li
• sted as an entity of concern for occasional military procurement activities in an early warning document distributed by the German government to industry in July 2005;

It was established in 1959 as a science laboratory of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC - see separate entity record), with which it signed a contract for the implementation of 56 upstream and downstream oil research projects in 2006;

UN Trade Sanctions against such assistance

The Research Institute Of Petroleum Industry Contact appears to be

Mohammad Mehdi Vahabi

Date of Birth: 02/02/1961

MSc Industrial Management 1991-1993,

Sharif University, Tehran, Iran

The Research Institute Of Petroleum Industry

Pajoheshgah Bulevard, Kheirabad Junction,

Old Qom Road,18745-4163 Tehran, IRAN,
phone:

+982144739793

fax-no: +982144739732e-mail:

• A fluoroelastomer is a special purpose fluorocarbon-based synthetic rubber. It has wide chemical resistance and superior performance, especially in high temperature application in different media.
  


• Fluoroelastomers are categorized under the ASTM D1418 & ISO 1629 designation of FKM. This class of elastomers is a family comprising copolymers of hexafluoropropylene (HFP) and vinylidene fluoride (VDF or VF2), terpolymers of tetrafluoroethylene (TFE), vinylidene fluoride (VDF) and hexafluoropropylene (HFP) as well as perfluoromethylvinylether (PMVE) containing specialties.

• The fluorine content of the most common grades varies between 66 and 70%.

By JOSEPH FITSANAKIS intelNews.org
Originally Published on March , 2009

A Croatian journalist has revealed a secret document containing the names of 300 Iranian intelligence operatives who operated in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2004 until 2007. Domagoj Margetić, one of Croatia’s most uncompromising investigative reporters, has published on his website a .pdf document that lists the names of several hundred Iranian agents who received official authorization from the embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Tehran to enter the Balkan country.

According to Margetić, numerous Iranian academics, as well as random Iranian government employees, are included in the intelligence operatives’ list, which implies they carried out intelligence missions in Bosnia while traveling under academic or diplomatic cover. Insiders have noted that the long list is indicative of the intensification of Iran’s intelligence activities in the Balkans and southern Europe in recent years, which they attribute to the “reorganization of Iranian intelligence infrastructure in the Balkans”. The disclosed document of Iranian intelligence operatives is available in .pdf format here, with a mirrored link here.

Intelnews.org

Iran & Mouritania

Someone In Tehran, Iran seems to be trying to establish contacts in The Mouritanian Chamber of Commerce....

Iran Controlled Companies on the US Siezed Asset List

Recent OFAC Actions

11/26/2008

The following entities have been identified as being owned or controlled by the Government of Iran:

• NAFTIRAN INTERTRADE CO. (NICO) SARL (a.k.a. NICO), 6, Avenue de la Tour-Haldimand, Pully, VD, Switzerland 1009, Switzerland
• [IRAN]NAFTIRAN INTERTRADE COMPANY LTD (a.k.a. NAFT IRAN INTERTRADE COMPANY LTD; a.k.a. NICO), 22 Grenville St., St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands JE4 8PX, United Kingdom; 22 Grenville St., St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands JE 4UF, United Kingdom; Petro Pars Building, Saadat Abad Ave, No 35, Farhang Blvd, Tehran, Iran
• [IRAN]NATIONAL IRANIAN OIL COMPANY (a.k.a. NIOC), Hafez Crossing, Taleghani Avenue, P.O. Box 1863 and 2501, Tehran, Iran [IRAN]
  

The Rest @ The US Office of Foreign Asset Control

Bank Markazi Anticipating Internet Access Restrictions

Bank Markazi Jomhouri Islami Iran (Central Bank) appears to be newly posting it's full contact information in small innocuous business indexes.

My guess is that this is in an attempt to get as many links as possible when their main websites go down or are blocked when the sanctions hit....


Here is an example:

-Shimron

Iran has New Sanctions Imposed by the United Nations (UN)

The following story is important to Africans because these companies and people are restricted from being allowed to travel world-wide by the United Nations, as they are aleged to be involved in Nuclear Weapon Development for Iran.

This means that they are likely to try and travel and do business in Africa, especially in Shia communites where they can go unnoticed.

-Shimron

UNITED NATIONS, March 3 (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council imposed a third round of sanctions on Iran on Monday for refusing to suspend sensitive nuclear activities but Tehran dismissed the council's decision as illegal and illegitimate.

There were 14 votes in favor, no votes against and one country, Indonesia, abstained. Previous sanctions resolutions were adopted unanimously in December 2006 and March 2007.

The resolution calls for more travel and financial restrictions on named Iranian individuals and companies and makes some restrictions mandatory.


-Keep in mind:

• Libya voted for the sanctions
• Vietnam voted for the sanctions
• United States voted for the sanctions
• Britain voted for the sanctions
• France voted for the sanctions
• China voted for the sanctions
• Russiavoted for the sanctions
• Indonesia did not vote for or against the sanctions - they abstained
  

(more from Reuters Africa)

Here is the United Nations report published 22/2/2008 by the UN's IAEA that says Iran has not complied with parts of earlier sanctions.

The names of the companies listed in the sanctions are:

• The new sanctions authorize inspection of cargo shipments at airports and seaports transported on planes or ships owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line that are suspected of containing banned items.
• The resolution introduces financial monitoring of two banks with suspected links to proliferation activities, Bank Melli and Bank Saderat.
• It calls on all countries "to exercise vigilance" in entering into new trade commitments with Iran, including granting export credits, guarantees or insurance.
• The resolution also orders countries to freeze the assets of 12 additional companies and 13 individuals with links to Iran's nuclear or ballistic missile programs — and require countries to "exercise vigilance" and report the travel or transit of those Iranians.

The People listed in all three of the UN Travel Bans:

• Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, of the Revolutionary Guard military corps and close associate of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has alegedly tried to get around previous UN sanctions.
• Mohammad Qannadi, AEOI Vice President for Research & Development
• Dawood Agha-Jani, Head of the PFEP (Natanz)
• Behman Asgarpour, Operational Manager ( Arak)
• Seyed Jaber Safdari (Manager of the Natanz Enrichment Facilities)
• Amir Rahimi (Head of Esfahan Nuclear Fuel Research and Production Centre, which is part of the AEOI’s Nuclear Fuel Production and Procurement Company, which is involved in enrichment-related activities)
• Amir Moayyed Alai (involved in managing the assembly and engineering of centrifuges)
• Mohammad Fedai Ashiani (involved in the production of ammonium uranyl carbonate and management of the Natanz enrichment complex)
• Abbas Rezaee Ashtiani (a senior official at the AEOI Office of Exploration and Mining Affairs)
• Haleh Bakhtiar (involved in the production of magnesium at a concentration of 99.9%)
• Morteza Behzad (involved in making centrifuge components)
• Dr. Mohammad Eslami (Head of Defence Industries Training and Research Institute)
• Seyyed Hussein Hosseini (AEOI official involved in the heavy water research reactor project at Arak)
• M. Javad Karimi Sabet (Head of Novin Energy Company, which is designated under resolution 1747 (2007))
• Hamid-Reza Mohajerani (involved in production management at the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) at Esfahan)
• Houshang Nobari (involved in the management of the Natanz enrichment complex)
• Abbas Rashidi (involved in enrichment work at Natanz)
• Ghasem Soleymani (Director of Uranium Mining Operations at the Saghand Uranium Mine)

Here is a copy of the resolution from the Security Council Web site