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American Morning
Missile Sting
Aired August 18, 2003 - 08:32 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the man authorities say was a significant black market arms dealer, Hemant Lakhani, accused of trying to sell a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile, is expected back in a New Jersey federal court today.
Deborah Feyerick has been following the case since the very beginning. She joins us to talk about what we may expect today. The hearing today is for what?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a detention hearing. When all of this happened last Wednesday, the lawyer had only a few minutes in which to meet with his client. So really what they did is they just postponed the bail, and they said, we'll come up with something on Monday, so everybody back in court.
HEMMER: Is there much talk about the possibility this was a very sophisticated form of entrapment? The bottom line is, he did not meet with any terrorists, is that right, Based on the evidence we know?
FEYERICK: Based on the evidence, if you look at the case strictly for what the case is.
But sources tell me during the two-year period he was under investigation, he was being tailed. He was under constant surveillance. Authorities know who he met with, they know what he was doing, and that's why they've labeled him a significant arms dealer.
Many people are now saying, well, but they knew exactly from point a to point b what he was doing. And while they did, authorities point out to me the fact that this missile came from somewhere, that there's a manufacturer somewhere in the Soviet Union -- they won't tell me where -- who's willing to sell these missiles to people who really shouldn't have them.
HEMMER: So with this suspect in court today, if he knows of people out there who might be willing to buy, was there any evidence offered to trail him even further, and possibly let the line go out a little longer and see where that takes them.
FEYERICK: There was some discussion. The sources that I'm talking say that there was some discussion that maybe they should have let this carry out further, maybe should have flipped Mr. Lakhani, see whether he could have provided any additional information.
But ultimately, what they wanted to get this guy out of the field. And also, don't forget, he was in New York to meet with the alleged buyers, who in reality were undercover agents. Now the buyers were going to ask for 50 more missiles. So given this was being set up, the government would have had to come up with 50 more missiles, and that was going to be a bit more tricky.
HEMMER: Which takes us to another question. Is there cooperation that you've noted yet. Is he answering questions at all, questions that may be very valuable leading to other people?
FEYERICK: Well, it's very unclear. I think a lot of the information coming from Mr. Lakhani is the information he himself provided to the authorities. He's the one that told them he was meeting with different members of terror organizations, different terror cells, Muslim extremists. So all of this is word of mouth right now.
What authorities are going to have to do, is they are going to have come up with independent confirmation that this guy really was meeting with who he says he was meeting. They know who he was meeting with, but that he actually sold to these groups. So that's going to be another level of confirmation.
HEMMER: We'll watch the hearing today, with your help. Thank, Deb. Deborah Feyerick.
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 18, 2003 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the man authorities say was a significant black market arms dealer, Hemant Lakhani, accused of trying to sell a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile, is expected back in a New Jersey federal court today.
Deborah Feyerick has been following the case since the very beginning. She joins us to talk about what we may expect today. The hearing today is for what?
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is a detention hearing. When all of this happened last Wednesday, the lawyer had only a few minutes in which to meet with his client. So really what they did is they just postponed the bail, and they said, we'll come up with something on Monday, so everybody back in court.
HEMMER: Is there much talk about the possibility this was a very sophisticated form of entrapment? The bottom line is, he did not meet with any terrorists, is that right, Based on the evidence we know?
FEYERICK: Based on the evidence, if you look at the case strictly for what the case is.
But sources tell me during the two-year period he was under investigation, he was being tailed. He was under constant surveillance. Authorities know who he met with, they know what he was doing, and that's why they've labeled him a significant arms dealer.
Many people are now saying, well, but they knew exactly from point a to point b what he was doing. And while they did, authorities point out to me the fact that this missile came from somewhere, that there's a manufacturer somewhere in the Soviet Union -- they won't tell me where -- who's willing to sell these missiles to people who really shouldn't have them.
HEMMER: So with this suspect in court today, if he knows of people out there who might be willing to buy, was there any evidence offered to trail him even further, and possibly let the line go out a little longer and see where that takes them.
FEYERICK: There was some discussion. The sources that I'm talking say that there was some discussion that maybe they should have let this carry out further, maybe should have flipped Mr. Lakhani, see whether he could have provided any additional information.
But ultimately, what they wanted to get this guy out of the field. And also, don't forget, he was in New York to meet with the alleged buyers, who in reality were undercover agents. Now the buyers were going to ask for 50 more missiles. So given this was being set up, the government would have had to come up with 50 more missiles, and that was going to be a bit more tricky.
HEMMER: Which takes us to another question. Is there cooperation that you've noted yet. Is he answering questions at all, questions that may be very valuable leading to other people?
FEYERICK: Well, it's very unclear. I think a lot of the information coming from Mr. Lakhani is the information he himself provided to the authorities. He's the one that told them he was meeting with different members of terror organizations, different terror cells, Muslim extremists. So all of this is word of mouth right now.
What authorities are going to have to do, is they are going to have come up with independent confirmation that this guy really was meeting with who he says he was meeting. They know who he was meeting with, but that he actually sold to these groups. So that's going to be another level of confirmation.
HEMMER: We'll watch the hearing today, with your help. Thank, Deb. Deborah Feyerick.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
