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American Morning

New Details in Missile Sting

Aired August 14, 2003 - 08:03   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are new details this morning in the missile sting. They are emerging. Hemant Lakhani, a suspected arms dealer, appeared in federal court yesterday with another suspect. The indictment against them points to a plot much larger than originally reported.
Joining us now is the U.S. attorney in New Jersey who is prosecuting this case, Christopher Christie.

Chris, good morning.

Thanks for being with us.

CHRISTOPHER CHRISTIE, U.S. ATTORNEY: Good morning.

My pleasure.

KAGAN: Lakhani, big fish or small fish in terms of international arms dealing?

CHRISTIE: This is a significant arms dealer. I think this is someone who has shown the willingness and the ability to be able to sell shoulder launched missiles, surface to air, to take our American jetliners. And so I don't think there's any question that we're safer today that he's in jail than we were before.

KAGAN: But this particular man, he had no record of any kind of arms deal. He had no contacts in Russia. There are some who are suggesting that through this 18 month sting, that actually agents had to kind of walk him through this in order to be able to try to carry out this deal.

CHRISTIE: No, that's really very inaccurate. I mean if you look at the details laid out in the criminal complaint, this is someone who knew his way around this business. This is someone who was an initiator of this transaction and someone who was, who has had a history of doing international arms dealing.

So, you know --

KAGAN: He does have a history?

CHRISTIE: Absolutely.

KAGAN: What's that history?

CHRISTIE: And you, you know, a lot of it is stuff that I can't go into in detail because it'll be evidence that's presented at trial. But I am confident that when we get to the time of trial in this case, people will understand the significance of this case.

KAGAN: Let's go back to the beginning where you first learned about Lakhani. It comes from an informant, a man who was up on drug charges, perhaps looking for leniency.

How good of a witness does that make him?

CHRISTIE: Well, listen, first off, I can't talk in any specifics about the nature of the cooperating witness. But what I will say in general about cooperating witnesses are most of the time those are people who were involved in a criminal element. And so, you know, you're always going to have problems with cooperating witnesses, no matter what kind of case you're doing. But this, I believe, when we present these facts at trial, people are going to see that the evidence is credible. We have over 150 audio and videotapes showing Mr. Lakhani's willingness, in fact, being anxious to be involved in this deal, pushing it, and really his motive, I believe, was profit more than anything else. But, also, this is someone who has said a lot of things on these tapes that were very sympathetic with the terrorists who were are trying to attack America.

KAGAN: They make for some good listening, these tapes?

CHRISTIE: They absolutely do.

KAGAN: What about the two other men who are involved here that previous to this, I think most people who knew them just thought of them as diamond dealers in the jewelry district here in New York.

CHRISTIE: Well, Mr. Abraham does have a gem dealership in New York. What he also has done, as alleged in the criminal complaint, is to have accepted the first $30,000 down payment on the missile that came into the United States on Tuesday and then to use that $30,000 to get it overseas for Mr. Lakhani. No question that the tapes and the evidence will show that he was involved very deeply in the money end of this deal.

The second person, Mr. Hamid (ph), was someone who came very late into this transaction, in the last 72 to 96 hours of the deal. He was brought in and was waiting to accept the $500,000 deposit that Mr. Lakhani was expecting for the next 50 missiles that he was going to sell to what he believed to be a terrorist organization.

I don't think there's any question that somebody like that and the people who are helping him do it, that this country is better off not having those people out there plying their trade.

KAGAN: And let's talk about where this investigation ends at this point. A lot of people would say well, why did you stop now? Why did you make the arrest? Why not let it play out and try to capture more people?

CHRISTIE: Listen, I think you have to come to a decision at any in an investigation when you want to get people who you consider to be dangerous off the street. And playing this out further just, I don't think, was the right plan to pursue. What we did here was to take these people who were dealing, as alleged, in money laundering and aid to terrorists and got them off the streets.

If we had waited and Mr. Lakhani had then been able to sell or associates of his had been able to sell a missile, a real missile, to terrorists that harmed Americans, then I think we'd be having a conversation about why we didn't act sooner.

KAGAN: Is it true or not true that you had to pull the plug on this because there was going to be a news leak, that the BBC was going to blow the cover on this investigation?

CHRISTIE: Not true. As I said yesterday, this went according to plan. It was executed according to plan and we got the people that we wanted to get.

KAGAN: Chris Christie, U.S. attorney from New Jersey, thank you for stopping by. I know it's a busy time.

CHRISTIE: My pleasure to be here.

KAGAN: Appreciate it.

CHRISTIE: Thank you.

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 14, 2003 - 08:03   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are new details this morning in the missile sting. They are emerging. Hemant Lakhani, a suspected arms dealer, appeared in federal court yesterday with another suspect. The indictment against them points to a plot much larger than originally reported.
Joining us now is the U.S. attorney in New Jersey who is prosecuting this case, Christopher Christie.

Chris, good morning.

Thanks for being with us.

CHRISTOPHER CHRISTIE, U.S. ATTORNEY: Good morning.

My pleasure.

KAGAN: Lakhani, big fish or small fish in terms of international arms dealing?

CHRISTIE: This is a significant arms dealer. I think this is someone who has shown the willingness and the ability to be able to sell shoulder launched missiles, surface to air, to take our American jetliners. And so I don't think there's any question that we're safer today that he's in jail than we were before.

KAGAN: But this particular man, he had no record of any kind of arms deal. He had no contacts in Russia. There are some who are suggesting that through this 18 month sting, that actually agents had to kind of walk him through this in order to be able to try to carry out this deal.

CHRISTIE: No, that's really very inaccurate. I mean if you look at the details laid out in the criminal complaint, this is someone who knew his way around this business. This is someone who was an initiator of this transaction and someone who was, who has had a history of doing international arms dealing.

So, you know --

KAGAN: He does have a history?

CHRISTIE: Absolutely.

KAGAN: What's that history?

CHRISTIE: And you, you know, a lot of it is stuff that I can't go into in detail because it'll be evidence that's presented at trial. But I am confident that when we get to the time of trial in this case, people will understand the significance of this case.

KAGAN: Let's go back to the beginning where you first learned about Lakhani. It comes from an informant, a man who was up on drug charges, perhaps looking for leniency.

How good of a witness does that make him?

CHRISTIE: Well, listen, first off, I can't talk in any specifics about the nature of the cooperating witness. But what I will say in general about cooperating witnesses are most of the time those are people who were involved in a criminal element. And so, you know, you're always going to have problems with cooperating witnesses, no matter what kind of case you're doing. But this, I believe, when we present these facts at trial, people are going to see that the evidence is credible. We have over 150 audio and videotapes showing Mr. Lakhani's willingness, in fact, being anxious to be involved in this deal, pushing it, and really his motive, I believe, was profit more than anything else. But, also, this is someone who has said a lot of things on these tapes that were very sympathetic with the terrorists who were are trying to attack America.

KAGAN: They make for some good listening, these tapes?

CHRISTIE: They absolutely do.

KAGAN: What about the two other men who are involved here that previous to this, I think most people who knew them just thought of them as diamond dealers in the jewelry district here in New York.

CHRISTIE: Well, Mr. Abraham does have a gem dealership in New York. What he also has done, as alleged in the criminal complaint, is to have accepted the first $30,000 down payment on the missile that came into the United States on Tuesday and then to use that $30,000 to get it overseas for Mr. Lakhani. No question that the tapes and the evidence will show that he was involved very deeply in the money end of this deal.

The second person, Mr. Hamid (ph), was someone who came very late into this transaction, in the last 72 to 96 hours of the deal. He was brought in and was waiting to accept the $500,000 deposit that Mr. Lakhani was expecting for the next 50 missiles that he was going to sell to what he believed to be a terrorist organization.

I don't think there's any question that somebody like that and the people who are helping him do it, that this country is better off not having those people out there plying their trade.

KAGAN: And let's talk about where this investigation ends at this point. A lot of people would say well, why did you stop now? Why did you make the arrest? Why not let it play out and try to capture more people?

CHRISTIE: Listen, I think you have to come to a decision at any in an investigation when you want to get people who you consider to be dangerous off the street. And playing this out further just, I don't think, was the right plan to pursue. What we did here was to take these people who were dealing, as alleged, in money laundering and aid to terrorists and got them off the streets.

If we had waited and Mr. Lakhani had then been able to sell or associates of his had been able to sell a missile, a real missile, to terrorists that harmed Americans, then I think we'd be having a conversation about why we didn't act sooner.

KAGAN: Is it true or not true that you had to pull the plug on this because there was going to be a news leak, that the BBC was going to blow the cover on this investigation?

CHRISTIE: Not true. As I said yesterday, this went according to plan. It was executed according to plan and we got the people that we wanted to get.

KAGAN: Chris Christie, U.S. attorney from New Jersey, thank you for stopping by. I know it's a busy time.

CHRISTIE: My pleasure to be here.

KAGAN: Appreciate it.

CHRISTIE: Thank you.

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