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'Del Boy' trader on arms charge
Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 14.08.03Rice trader, sari seller and arms dealer. The full portrait of the London man who tried to supply a missile that could have brought down the US President's jet emerged today.
Hemant Lakhani comes across as a blustering "Del Boy" trader who tried arms sales after his rice and sari import-export trade went bust.
Lakhani was charged in a New Jersey court overnight with attempting to sell a Russian Igla missile in the belief that it would be used in a Somali terrorist attack on a commercial US airliner.
He faces a 15-year sentence for trying to help and equip terrorists and a 10-year term and £1 million fine for attempting to supply the surface-to-air missile.
His plans were thwarted by an elaborate sting set up by US and Russian secret services, with an FBI informant posing as the Somali group's intermediary and a Russian FSB agent as the missile seller.
Lakhani appears to have turned to illicit arms dealing after he was declared bankrupt in December 1999.
His main company Multitrade (London) Ltd was wound up, as was his wife's firm Reliance Clothing. She was also declared bankrupt and her store near Oxford Street was closed down.
It is not clear when Lakhani made his first trip to Russia, though some sources say he began planning the deal 20 months ago. But according to one report he was noticed by FSB in March this year.
A source familiar with the Moscow end of the investigation described Lakhani as an "idiot" who "apparently went to Moscow in March on the off-chance" he might find something. He was directed to a factory in the
Krasnoyarsk region, whose managers informed the FSB.
From prosecution accounts Lakhani was clearly out of his depth, overly anxious to impress his Somali contact that he was a "serious businessman" capable of supplying "high-class stuff".
But for all his audacity he stood to make only £10,000 for supplying the missile, which he planned to sell for £53,000.
But he had been gambling on its leading to a £3.5 million deal involving the sale of 50 Iglas.
Those who know him say Lakhani was fond of money. Rajni Shah, who was his company secretary until 2000, said: "He liked spending money too much - nice holidays, good restaurants." But Mr Shah, 67, of Bounds Green, denies the trader had any links with Muslim terror groups.
Lakhani, a Hindu, used the Muslim name of Hekmat when he introduced himself to the FBI informant. US court papers also gave his name as Hemant.
In conversation with the informant he declared Americans to be "bastards", a phrase repeated throughout the day on every US TV news bulletin, praised Osama bin Laden and said the September 11 attacks were "a good thing" that had "straightened them all out".
The conversation was secretly recorded. When Lakhani asked what the missile was for he was told it was for a "jihad" targeting a passenger plane.
According to one report Lakhani said he hoped it would be used to shoot down Air Force One, the presidential jet.
India's Central Bureau of Investigation is investigating Lakhani's background and any possible links with the country's arms dealers.
