Al-Kassar Arms Trafficking Operation Exposed by Mediafax

This is a very rough translation of an article that appeared on the Romanina media network Mediafax on October 27, 2009. TBDA shows that they have been conducting an investigation for some time.

-Shimron Issachar

The contract between the company Romarm and used, according to UN publications, the arms trafficker Monzer Al-Kassar as a front for arms exports for brigades FARC has not been finalized, said Tuesday evening, the AFP, general manager of Romarm John whip.

Contract for supply of weapons to FARC alleged destination was not executed (Image: Archive Mediafax Foto)

"I can tell that Romarm a contract with the company Trowl Services Limited, which aim to contract the supply of products for police in Nicaragua. This contract, like all contracts that we conclude, it enters into force, according to a clear terms, I would say the primary, only after it received an export license to the National Authority for Control of Exports (ANCEX).

Although this agreement was an export license issued by ANCEX, it was immediately withdrawn and while it was valid was not made any delivery and has not received any money under this contract ", they said by phone, whip, agency AFP.

Director Romarm could not specify what were the reasons for which the license ANCEX was "immediately" withdrawn, adding that institutional relations between the institution endorses Romarm and exports "not involve the provision of explanations or additional information.

Whip's statements come in the context of the emergence of a magazine article published in the UN Institute for Disarmament, which shows that Monzer al-Kassar, a leading international arms trafficking network condemned by the U.S.,  has negotiated with Romarm Romanian company in 2007, buying arms which was to reach the Colombian group FARC.

In February, Monzer al-Kassar has been condemned by the District Court in New York to 30 years in prison for having agreed to provide arms Colombian terrorist group FARC.

 "Monzer al-Kassar was convicted following a "sting?"organized by the U.S. Anti-Drug Agency (DEA), which had received large sums for the purchase of weapons, including sophisticated surface-to-air missiles.

The weapons were to be purchased from the Romanian company Romarm , which, as the evidence on record, did not oppose the sale, showed the article published in the magazine UN Institute for Disarmament Research in the field (UNIDIR), available on the website www.unidir.ch.

 In response to those related by UNIDIR, whip said that no representative Romarm concluded any agreement with Monzer al-Kassar and it never provided any price list.

 Also Tuesday, the Director of National Agency for Conventional Arms Exports Control said by telephone to the agency AFP, that the transaction which reported UNIDIR was never completed, leaving to understand that an institution that has not ever endorsed such export.

"Anyone can enter any contract, but this kind of business document contains a clause on consent from us, from ANCEX. Ask those from Romarm if they received any notice for that transaction," said ANCEX official, refusing any further comment.

"Probably to mislead the authorities in Romania", al-Kassar has used an intermediary to purchase arms and ammunition from Romarm. The intermediary was Milan Djurovic, the company Trawl Services Limited, registered in Britain but which is based in Belgrade, write the authors document UNIDIR.

Several instruments found in possession of al-Kassar shows that Milan Djurovic was used in business transactions (with) Transtrade GmbH. The UNIDIR report (said ) and export license C32.7515 was issued (May 16, 2007) between Romarm and Trawl Services Ltd, a copy (of)the contract between the two companies were found on Al-Kassar.

Previously, Nicolae Iancu, marketing director of Romarm, said to AFP that the number cited by UNIDIR is a contract, not a license to export the ANCEX.

It can be a very legally binding contract with a firm, but that has not received notice ANCEX. Maybe just as well be talking about a fake contract, and such cases we have seen in almost 30 activities to Romarm" Janco said.

Iancu, who was director of Romarm and 2007, when Kassar, under UNIDIR publication should be negotiated with the institution, argued that evidence from the authors expected the UN publication and, referring to the fact that the publication maintains that information is contained in testimony of one of U.S. agencies involved in its monitoring of Kassar said that testimony in the courts "may be false.

"The fact that the transaction was never made means that it is not approved by ANCEX without notice any weapon can be delivered across borders or understanding between Romarm and British company has not reached the stage of obtaining export license, "concluded Iancu, adding that the program is not allowed to study the document UNIDIR and does not remember the names of firms or persons involved in the alleged contract.

 According to Iancu, the information presented in the publication UNIDIR are "speculation" and are part of a series of attacks aimed at destabilizing trade Romanian defense industry.

"In recent years (reports occured) in the international press (that there were) items with the wrong destination, real attacks aimed at destabilizing the Romanian defense industry," said Janco, Tuesday evening, (to the) agency AFP, stressing that in his opinion, and information about (the) contract that involved Monzer al-Kassar, a leading international arms trafficking network in the U.S. convicted, would enter into the same category.

Asked how it was possible to conclude such a contract by Romarm, Janco said that an opinion is a pre-export phase and that, in principle, may be concluded "many ways" of contracts, but (th coontracts) do not run until after supplies are approved by ANCEX.

"We are a state company, everything is checked. Work legally, so it hurts me when I see all these defamations" he concluded, adding that Romarm could take an official position "if you consider (it)appropriate".

Al-Kassar had received over $ 400,000 to purchase weapons, funds that would provide money (for use?) by the FARC in drug trafficking but were actually funds the U.S. Anti-Drug Agency (DEA) to organize flagrantului.

Al-Kassar had repeatedly link edarms with companies from Bulgaria and Romania and traveled to both countries to complete arrangements to purchase weapons, "explained DEA agent William Brown in U.S. court which tried the al-Kassar, his testimony was the main source UNIDIR document.

The American agent quoted by UNIDIR, the operation provided by the FARC (to)purchase the following weapons to al-Kassar:

• 4350 AKM assault rifles,
• 3350 by AKMS assault rifles,
• RPK 200 assault rifles,
• 50 rifle with telescope Dragunov,
• 500 Makarov pistols,
• 2,000,000 7.62 mm caliber bullets
• 120 grenade launchers RPG,
• 1650 PG-7V grenade and
• 2,400 hand grenades RGO-78.
  

 "Substantial amounts began to be sent undercover agents of the DEA (to?) accounts controlled by al-Kassar, and, according to U.S. court documents, he was able to negotiate successfully with Romarm company and other companies to purchase, in addition, (Surface to air ) missiles-air SA-7, SA-16 and SA-18.

Al-Kassar told us that he was in Bulgaria and would arrive the next day in Romania, of the arms contract. He was to meet on May 11, 2007 with representatives of the arms industry in Romania. We useed airline data to confirm that al-Kassar went to Romania on May 10, 2007, 'says DEA agent William Brown, quoted by the authors UNIDIR publication.

During the visit to Romania and Bulgaria, al-Kassar (brought)a table of prices of the companies Romarm (Romania) and Armitrans (Bulgaria), stresses the document, which he cites DEA agent William Brown said that "some of the weapons had been purchased Al-Kassar from Romarm.

Milan Djurovic intend to buy from Romarm

• 2,000 AKM assault rifles
• 2250 AKMS assault rifles,
• 200 RPK rifles,
• 50 rifles with Dragunov telescope

The total contract value of $607,000.

The weapons were to be bought by al-Kassar with 920,000 dollars and the price demanded (of) the FARC would be 2,005,000 dollars, according to the report UNIDIR.

Trawl Services Company, cited in Article UNIDIR, (was to) provide safety equipment and police protection and commercial organizations (suuport) worldwide.  The company's website (says it) provides armored cars, gas masks, metal detectors and other products.

 The contact is a mailbox in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

UN Institute for Disarmament Research in the field (UNIDIR) was established in 1980 by the UN General Assembly and operates as an autonomous entity within the UN structures

The Rest @ Mediafax

New Yorker Tareq Mousa al-Ghazi Convicted of Arms Trafficking

By BENJAMIN WEISER

Published: March 17, 2009

A Palestinian-born businessman was convicted in New York Tuesday on charges that he conspired with the Syrian arms dealer Monzer al-Kassar in a plot to sell weapons, including 15 surface-to-air missiles, to a Columbian terrorist organization.

The businessman, Tareq Mousa al-Ghazi, was told that the arms would be used to kill American military officers, the evidence showed.

Mr. Ghazi, 62, is the third man found guilty in the plot, which involved an elaborate sting operation run by the Drug Enforcement Administration, which used informants who posed as middlemen and said they were seeking the weapons for a Columbian rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Prosecutors said the men also agreed to sell 4,000 grenades, nearly 9,000 assault rifles and thousands of pounds of explosives to the FARC for a profit of more than $1 million.

Mr. Ghazi was acquitted of a broader charge, conspiring to kill Americans generally. But he was convicted of three conspiracy counts, including the plot to kill American military officers and providing material assistance to a terrorist group.

Mr. Kassar, who the authorities say had been involved in arms trafficking since the 1970s, was convicted along with an associate in November and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The associate, Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, received 25 years in prison.

Mr. Ghazi faces a minimum of 25 years in prison and could receive a life term when he is sentenced by Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Mr. Ghazi’s lawyer, Marc A. Agnifilo, said he would appeal. At trial, he argued that his client had been entrapped by the government, lured into the plot as a way for the government to apprehend Mr. Kassar.

But prosecutors denied that, saying Mr. Ghazi had been a willing and ready participant. “He did everything he could to get the deal done and get paid,” a prosecutor, Boyd M. Johnson III, told the jury.

Jurors interviewed after the verdict said they spent more than a day discussing the question of entrapment, but ultimately rejected it after receiving clarification on the law from the judge.

The Rest @ The New York Times

Romanian Police Work That Helped Capture Viktor Bout

Published in the Romainan Paper Ziua in Romainian on 5th of January 2008

Borders with Hungary, Ukraine and Moldova are the hottest borders for criminal activity [in Eastern Europe]

According to a report of the General Inspectorate of Border Police (IGPF), in 2008 the "hottest" border for infractions were Hungary, followed by Moldova and Ukraine.

Meanwhile, there were decreased infractions from the the border with Bulgaria, but [there were more] with Serbia.

Border police have found more than 28,500 of illegal acts, with about three per cent more compared to 2007. ".

"Most illegal acts were recorded in

• illegal migration
• forgery and use of forgery
• human trafficking
• smuggling of consumer goods.

Romanian border police had a vital contribution to the capture of arms trafficker Viktor Bout, in March 2008.

Following the cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the U.S., which led to the detainment, in June 2007, a terrorist Monzer Al Kassar, border police in the IGPF - Directorate for Combating cross-border crime (DCIT) were asked [by] U.S. authorities to identify and retain one of the biggest arms traffickers in the world, Viktor Bout.

• For two weeks, officers from the DCIT - IGPF held information-operative actions to locating trafficker and probarii shares its international traffic of illegal weapons.
• Together with DEA agents, arrived in Bucharest, the Romanian border police have established several actions catching Bout on existing information that he would be interested to meet some "beneficiaries of arms, including Romania.
• Discussions were monitored between Bout, one of the [local officials] and its undercover investigators on carrying a consignment of weapons in Colombia, worth $ 5 million, to "attract" to Romania in orde .
• Weapons were to be bought and sold by Bout [to the] FARC (Armed Forces Columbiene revolutionary).
• vidence obtained after information-operative activities carried out in Romania, with the support of the Romanian border police, have led to the arrest and criminalization of Viktor Bout for the offense of conspiracy and association to illegal trafficking of arms to terrorist organizations.

Mobs in Romania

Local Police have detained several major criminals, looking to trafficking in arms, drugs, etc.. [to Europe]

In July 2008, border guards spotted Angelo Moretti, for 53 years, with 18 criminal convictions in Italy and watched by authorities Peninsula for "mafia-type association, evasion and disruption of industrial or commercial activities" and for prisoners of illegal weapons, explosive materials, acts of violence, outrage and attempted murder.

• Italian, accompanied by master Zafer Yussuf, 43 years, on behalf of whom the Italian authorities [emmssaries] brought arrest warrant for the port illegal arms and drug trafficking, trying to get illegally in Greece.
• The two were caught by border guards of the PTF Calafat, Dolj County, on 14 July 2008, to questions the [legitimacy of their]the Italian identity card.
• The two were handed to Italian authorities via Interpol bureau.