Indonesians plead guilty for trying to export arms illegally

BALTIMORE (AP): Two Indonesian men have pleaded guilty to tryingto illegally export arms to Indonesia through undercover U.S.federal agents, a sting that also netted a suspectedinternational arms dealer and three men associated with the SriLanka rebel group the Tamil Tigers.

Reinhard Rusli, 33, and Helmi Soedirdja, 34, who also pleadedguilty to money laundering, represented one of two conspiraciesthat federal agents allege were being orchestrated by suspectedinternational arms dealer Haji Subandi of Indonesia. They enteredtheir pleas in court Tuesday.

Reinhard and Helmi, as well as the other men, were swept up inan undercover operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and CustomsEnforcement, the FBI and the Defense Criminal InvestigativeService.

The pair contacted undercover agents to acquire night visionand holographic weapons sight devices, which they said would beused by the Indonesian military. The hardware they were trying tobuy was on a list requiring a special license or permission fromthe U.S. State Department to export them.

"The technology itself could be extremely dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands," said Jim Dinkins, acting specialagent in charge of ICE's office in Baltimore. "It couldeventually be used against the United States."

In the other conspiracy, Subandi made numerous requests to theundercover agents between March 2004 and April 2006 on behalf ofTamil Tigers to acquire night-vision goggles, special forcesweaponry, communication devices, sonar technology and unmannedaerial vehicles, according to a federal indictment.

Subandi has been charged with Haniffa Bin Osman and ErickWotulo. They are charged with conspiracy to export arms andmunitions, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreignterrorist organization, and money laundering. ThirunavukarasuVaratharasa, 36, of Sri Lanka, also is charged with being part ofthe conspiracy.

Authorities said that among the weapons Osman sought topurchase were surface-to-air missiles.

All the men were arrested in September in Guam, where they metto examine the weapons, which weighed 3.5 tons and filled up 14pallets in a truck. They remain in federal custody, and a trialwas scheduled for May 14 in federal court in Baltimore.

The Tamil Tigers are a rebel group that began fighting in 1983for a separate state on Sri Lanka. The group was added to the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizationsin 1997. The designation bars the group from raising money,obtaining weaponry or lobbying for support in the United States.

Reinhard and Helmi face a maximum sentence of 20 years inprison, followed by five years of supervised release and a$500,000 (euro385,000) fine for money laundering and 10 years inprison, followed by three years of supervised release and a$1,000,000 (euro770,000) fine for attempted exportation of arms.

U.S. District Judge Catherine Blake scheduled sentencing forReinhard and Helmi for April 27. (**)

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