Supplying the enemy
An Israeli and Canadian Arab face long prison terms after pleading guilty in connection to a planned shipment of night-vision goggles and aiming devices to Hizbullah
Two shipping company employees, one Israeli and one Arab, have pleaded guilty in connection with a planned shipment of night-vision goggles to the Lebanese terrorist organization Hizbullah, authorities said.
Naji Antoine Abi Khalil, 40, of Montreal and originally from Lebanon, entered three guilty pleas on Tuesday in Little Rock, including attempting to provide material support for Hizbullah.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in New York also announced that Tomer Grinberg, an Israeli, had pleaded guilty July 28 to conspiracy to export sensitive military equipment without proper licenses.
Both men face the possibility of long prison terms.
FBI uses wired undercover agent
They were arrested in New York in May after an investigation by FBI agents, Scotland Yard detectives and Canadian Mounties.
However, the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on how an Israeli citizen got involved in supplying Hizbullah - an organization that denies Israel's right to exist.
The FBI said it used a witness wearing a wire to catch Khalil discussing a shipment of night-vision goggles to Hizbullah in Athens, Greece.
Khalil, who was chairman of the Canadian import-export company New Line Services, told an undercover FBI agent that he would create false documents to get the shipment to Hizbullah undetected.
Grinberg, who worked for the Brooklyn-based Tober Group, joined Khalil and the undercover agent at a Manhattan storage facility to pick up USD 5,000 worth of night-vision goggles and infrared aiming devices, designed for mounting on M-16 rifles.
The two men were arrested after Khalil accepted a USD 2,500 down payment from the agent, U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins said.
