Lithuanians Arrested for Peddling Nukes
From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas)
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 1997 06:58:41 -0800
Subject: Lithuanians Arrested for Peddling Nukes
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Via: Steve1957@aol.com
AP-NY-06-30-97 2158EDT
.c The Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) - Two Lithuanians were accused Monday of trying to sell Soviet-era
nuclear weapons to federal agents posing as arms brokers for drug smugglers.
No weapons changed hands, but the pair were caught on audio and video tape
negotiating the sale of nuclear weapons and Bulgarian-made nonnuclear
surface-to-air missiles, investigators said.
``The significance shows there are people out there who have the ability to
move weapons - strategic weapons - around the world,'' said Dennis Fagan,
agent of charge of the Customs Service in Miami.
Alexander Porgrebeshski, 28, and Alexander Darichev, 36, both Lithuanian
nationals, were arrested Friday after they reached a $1.3 million deal for 40
anti-aircraft missiles and transportation to Puerto Rico. The nuclear weapons
deal was to follow.
The defendants appeared in federal court Monday on conspiracy charges and
were held without bail.
The two had negotiated for two years with two Russian-speaking agents posing
as representatives of a Colombian drug cartel, according to a court affidavit
filed by U.S. Customs Service agent William Eshleman.
The agents expressed worries that they might be traced if the hand-held
missiles were used to shoot down a jetliner, but they were assured that
official paperwork would indicate the missiles were in Lithuania.
The negotiators held a series of hotel meetings in Miami and London, and
agents recorded conversations in both places.
According to the affidavit, the Lithuanians said that, after two years of
negotiations, all but one of the Igla anti-aircraft missiles intended for
sale to the agents wound up in Iran instead.
The Lithuanians also were offering Soviet-made Strela missiles, a type
favored by revolutionary groups. Strelas shot down Salvadoran air force
planes and were captured in the Angolan civil war.
Clinton administration officials have raised concerns about the potential for
a black market in former Soviet weapons and the spread of Russian organized
crime.
U.S. officials sidestepped questions about whether the two suspected
smugglers had Russian mob ties.
``When you're talking about Russian organized crime and Eastern European
groups, it's a looser conglomeration'' than the crime families of American
movies, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Gregorie said. ``It doesn't lessen
the danger in any way.''
AP-NY-06-30-97 2158EDT
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