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CNN Live At Daybreak

Missile Plot?

Aired August 13, 2003 - 06:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An alleged arms dealer will be in court today, accused of trying to sell a shoulder-fired missile to U.S. agents posing as terrorists. Two other men suspected in the alleged plot have a separate court appearance.
The arrests came after a year-long undercover investigation involving the United States, Russia and Britain. U.S. intelligence officials say there is no indication of a specific or an imminent threat to U.S. commercial aircraft from terrorists with shoulder-fired missiles. Don't know if that makes you feel any better.

But let's get more now on this suspected plot and the three men accused of involvement. CNN's Bill Prasad has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL PRASAD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal investigators remove evidence from a New York business they hope proves an arms dealer smuggled a Russian SA-18 shoulder-fired missile into the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your basic SA-7 is a shoulder-fired rocket with an infrared sensor in it that guides itself to the plume of a jet airplane.

PRASAD: Hekmat Lakhani, a British citizen, has been arrested. Government sources say he is an international arms dealer, who has sold weapons to al Qaeda.

In the past few months, he put out the word that he could obtain a shoulder-fired missile. U.S. agents, posing as Muslim extremists, offered to buy. Russian authorities, working with U.S. investigators, sell him the SA-18. The dealer, not knowing that explosives have been removed, ships the missile to Newark, New Jersey. He flies to the U.S. over the weekend to complete the deal and is busted yesterday afternoon on Newark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was very good work by American and foreign intelligence. But secondly, it takes a little bit of luck to find this kind of an operation while it's being hatched.

PRASAD: Al Qaeda's November attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Kenya was a wake-up call for U.S. officials. Experts are looking at ways to develop affordable anti-missile technology that could be used to protect U.S. commercial jetliners. (on camera): Two other men believed to be money launderers have also been arrested. U.S. officials emphasize there is no intelligence indicating a specific or immediate threat to passenger planes from a shoulder-fired missile.

Bill Prasad, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: In case you're curious, some more details for you now about that missile system. The SA-18 Grouse is a portable surface-to- air missile that's deployed in Russia and two other countries. It's 1.7 meters in length and 7.2 centimeters in diameter. Actually, it's pretty small and easily carryable (ph).

Its method of propulsion is a solid fuel booster and a dual- thrust solid fuel sustainer rocket motor. Its warhead is a 1 kilogram HE chemical energy fragmentation effect. The missile is known by the Russian designation "Igla." The system is capable of operating in high humidity.

I know that was difficult to understand. Jill Dougherty can explain it better, and she can explain the alleged plot too, because, as you've heard, it has an international flair to it. The suspected British arms dealer allegedly purchased the missile in Russia, so let's check that connection.

Live to Moscow and Jill Dougherty.

And, Jill, first off, explain what this surface-to-air missile looks like, because I don't think I explained it very well before.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I've seen pictures of it, and it's actually very small. It fits on your shoulder. It sticks out maybe about that much in front and a little bit in back. It's actually very, very small. It weighs about 11 kilograms, so what's that? About maybe 30 pounds or so -- 30 to 40 pounds?

And, as somebody said, it could fit in a golf bag, so it's very, very portable, relatively easy to use. And, unfortunately, it's pretty accessible. There are literally hundreds of thousands of them around the world.

And the experts that we've been speaking with say that the real danger spots, places where the black marketeers can get their hands on these, would be in former Soviet Union republics, where these were part of the military hardware from the old Soviet Union and remain in those countries, but sometimes not under very good lock and key, and then also here in Russia in the Russian military, also sometimes accessible to people who want to sell it on the black market.

By the way, Carol, the Russians do sell it officially to other countries, but that is more under control. They have certain controls on those systems when they sell it officially to other countries. The real worry is in these military depots that still exist. COSTELLO: You know, one bright note, I guess, in this story is the beautiful cooperation between Russia, the United States and Britain.

DOUGHERTY: Right. In fact, the FSB, which is the Federal Security Service -- it used to be called the KGB -- was praising the operation. They said really this was a new stage in cooperation between the United States and Russia and other Western security services. They said that it's the first time since the Cold War that they have cooperated on this type of operation.

And that's the good news, but the real problem is that those SA- 18s and other similar weapons are out there, and countries right now have to figure out what to do to protect people against them.

COSTELLO: And hopefully they're working on that right now. Jill Dougherty live from Moscow this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired August 13, 2003 - 06:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: An alleged arms dealer will be in court today, accused of trying to sell a shoulder-fired missile to U.S. agents posing as terrorists. Two other men suspected in the alleged plot have a separate court appearance.
The arrests came after a year-long undercover investigation involving the United States, Russia and Britain. U.S. intelligence officials say there is no indication of a specific or an imminent threat to U.S. commercial aircraft from terrorists with shoulder-fired missiles. Don't know if that makes you feel any better.

But let's get more now on this suspected plot and the three men accused of involvement. CNN's Bill Prasad has the latest from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL PRASAD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal investigators remove evidence from a New York business they hope proves an arms dealer smuggled a Russian SA-18 shoulder-fired missile into the U.S.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your basic SA-7 is a shoulder-fired rocket with an infrared sensor in it that guides itself to the plume of a jet airplane.

PRASAD: Hekmat Lakhani, a British citizen, has been arrested. Government sources say he is an international arms dealer, who has sold weapons to al Qaeda.

In the past few months, he put out the word that he could obtain a shoulder-fired missile. U.S. agents, posing as Muslim extremists, offered to buy. Russian authorities, working with U.S. investigators, sell him the SA-18. The dealer, not knowing that explosives have been removed, ships the missile to Newark, New Jersey. He flies to the U.S. over the weekend to complete the deal and is busted yesterday afternoon on Newark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This was very good work by American and foreign intelligence. But secondly, it takes a little bit of luck to find this kind of an operation while it's being hatched.

PRASAD: Al Qaeda's November attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner in Kenya was a wake-up call for U.S. officials. Experts are looking at ways to develop affordable anti-missile technology that could be used to protect U.S. commercial jetliners. (on camera): Two other men believed to be money launderers have also been arrested. U.S. officials emphasize there is no intelligence indicating a specific or immediate threat to passenger planes from a shoulder-fired missile.

Bill Prasad, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: In case you're curious, some more details for you now about that missile system. The SA-18 Grouse is a portable surface-to- air missile that's deployed in Russia and two other countries. It's 1.7 meters in length and 7.2 centimeters in diameter. Actually, it's pretty small and easily carryable (ph).

Its method of propulsion is a solid fuel booster and a dual- thrust solid fuel sustainer rocket motor. Its warhead is a 1 kilogram HE chemical energy fragmentation effect. The missile is known by the Russian designation "Igla." The system is capable of operating in high humidity.

I know that was difficult to understand. Jill Dougherty can explain it better, and she can explain the alleged plot too, because, as you've heard, it has an international flair to it. The suspected British arms dealer allegedly purchased the missile in Russia, so let's check that connection.

Live to Moscow and Jill Dougherty.

And, Jill, first off, explain what this surface-to-air missile looks like, because I don't think I explained it very well before.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: Well, I've seen pictures of it, and it's actually very small. It fits on your shoulder. It sticks out maybe about that much in front and a little bit in back. It's actually very, very small. It weighs about 11 kilograms, so what's that? About maybe 30 pounds or so -- 30 to 40 pounds?

And, as somebody said, it could fit in a golf bag, so it's very, very portable, relatively easy to use. And, unfortunately, it's pretty accessible. There are literally hundreds of thousands of them around the world.

And the experts that we've been speaking with say that the real danger spots, places where the black marketeers can get their hands on these, would be in former Soviet Union republics, where these were part of the military hardware from the old Soviet Union and remain in those countries, but sometimes not under very good lock and key, and then also here in Russia in the Russian military, also sometimes accessible to people who want to sell it on the black market.

By the way, Carol, the Russians do sell it officially to other countries, but that is more under control. They have certain controls on those systems when they sell it officially to other countries. The real worry is in these military depots that still exist. COSTELLO: You know, one bright note, I guess, in this story is the beautiful cooperation between Russia, the United States and Britain.

DOUGHERTY: Right. In fact, the FSB, which is the Federal Security Service -- it used to be called the KGB -- was praising the operation. They said really this was a new stage in cooperation between the United States and Russia and other Western security services. They said that it's the first time since the Cold War that they have cooperated on this type of operation.

And that's the good news, but the real problem is that those SA- 18s and other similar weapons are out there, and countries right now have to figure out what to do to protect people against them.

COSTELLO: And hopefully they're working on that right now. Jill Dougherty live from Moscow this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.