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04 Jan 05 20:59 |
A British businessman offered to sell 200 shoulder-fired missiles, a court in America was told on Tuesday.
Hemant Lakhani, of north London, told an undercover FBI agent the weapons could be used to bring down 10 to 15 planes, the jury heard.
Mr Lakhani, 69, was one of three people arrested in a "sting" by the FBI, British and Russian intelligence.
Mr Lakhani's legal team is expected to tell the court in Newark, New Jersey, that he is the victim of entrapment.
Indian-born Mr Lakhani is charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, one count of unlawful brokering of foreign defence articles, two counts of money laundering, and one count of attempting to import merchandise into the US by means of false statements. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Stuart Rabner, prosecuting, said: "This case is about a man who enthusiastically tries to sell 200 shoulder-fired surface to air missiles to people who he believed would use them to shoot down planes in the sky with people aboard as part of a terrorist attack on the United States.
"He spent more than a year and a half eagerly trying to make this deal happen, actively trying to smuggle 200 shoulder-fired missiles into the United States, all the time issuing advice on how to shoot planes out of the sky in order to shake the US economy."
Mr Rabner told the jury of five men and 10 women that Lakhani praised terror chief Osama Bin Laden as doing "a very good job" with the September 11 attacks. Mr Lakhani has been held in jail since his arrest in August 2003, following a two-year surveillance operation.
The trial is expected to last about 10 weeks.