TWO ISRAELIS JAILED FOR ILLEGAL SELLING OF ARMS TO IRAN
By Safa Haeri in Tel-Aviv
JERUSALEM 6TH Feb. (IPS) Two Israeli businessmen accused of selling US and Canadian military equipment to the Islamic Republic of Iran via third country, were arrested and remanded in custody, according to Israeli press.
The men, Eli Cohen, 50 and Avihai Weinstein, 32 were investigated secretly for over a year by special units of the Israeli Police that uncovered the pair had bought US military surplus and sold them to Iran via Far East brokers, probably based in the city-state of Singapore.
The report also surfaced in Japanese newspapers saying Israel arms merchants were involved in the illegal export of RPG-7 missile launchers from Japan to Iran, with the Japanese Police having arrested two men last month.
Investigators in Israel raided the offices of Mr. Cohen and Mr. Weinstein last week, removing numerous documents and taking the two into custody, the influential daily "Ha'aretz" reported.
Cohen, a former sales executive of the Ordan, the manufacturer of the famous Israeli-made tanks Merkava had already served a six months jail in an American prison for illegal arms sale in 1993, after the FBI had established that he had illegally exported American-made military equipment to Iran, including Hawk missiles.
According to a Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court, Cohen and Weinstein are suspected to have sold Canadian Armored Personal Carriers (APC) to Iran after upgrading them in the United States, pretending they are to be exported to a European country, with deals and transaction documents invoving firms in Britain, Holland, Belgium and Germany.
Police also suspects that Cohen had ties with South Korean arms dealers known to supply the Islamic Republic with different types of arms.
To hide the transaction, the equipment would travel from Germany to Holland, to Britain and to Singapore before reaching Iran, the final destination.
Defence atorney Haim Misgav told the court that Cohen did not knew about the final destination, observing that the military equipment was Canadian surplus that had been out of used for many years.
But police said the evidence suggests otherwise.
Talking to reporters, Cohen said he did not sell anything to any country. "I only mediated a deal between one European country and another", the right wing Jerusalem Post quoted him as having told journalists.
According to American documents, Cohen purchased in 1992 50 M-113 APC engines from Israeli Defence Forces surplus and a few dozen more from Germany and Duch surplus, declaring he intends to revamp them for civilian use, but some of the engines ultimately reached Iran and Cohen was paid US $ 1.5 million from a Hong Kong bank. ENDS ARMS SALE 6200