Brit sent missile equipment to Malta, to sell to IranA British businessman was jailed for trying to sell the Iranian Ministry of Defence devices used for guided missile systems and other weapons, by exporting them to Malta, to be able to ship them to Iran.
On Friday, a Crown Court in Croydon sentenced Mehrdad Salashoor, 56, to 18 months imprisonment, after he admitted selling 11 ‘gyrocompasses’ to the Iranian government. Gyrocompasses, designed as standalone shipping navigation systems, contain accelerometers and gyros, which are classified as ‘dual-use items’ as they can be used for both civil and military applications. Exporting gyrocompasses requires special licences and authorisation from the British government, as this technology can be used to build weapons, including guidance mechanisms for cruise missiles. n May 2006, Salashoor exported the 11 gyros to Malta, with instructions for onward-shipment to a company in Iran. That ‘company’ was later found to be the Iranian Ministry of Defence. The deal, worth approximately £650,000, was only disrupted when the Maltese Customs authorities discovered the suspicious package as it arrived on Maltese shores. They blocked the gyros from getting on board the ship to Iran and resent them to the UK.
But the businessman did not give up. He shipped two of the gyros to Norway, supposedly to be fitted to two ships berthed in Oslo. British authorities later found out that these ships never existed. Instead, the equipment was secretly sent to Iran soon after it arrived in Norway.
When HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs) started investigating this illegal export, the businessman provided them with a hard disc containing copies of email correspondence and contracts with an Azeri Shipping company. The documents appeared to give an account of how Salashoor was deceived by a series of ‘shady middlemen’, HMRC said in a statement. Email traffic appeared to show Salashoor being duped, and that he even attempted to stop the goods from leaving Malta once he heard about the Iranian deal.
However, HMRC’s Digital Forensic Investigators uncovered evidence from the disc that showed the documents were a cover-story created by Salashoor as part of an elaborate attempt to conceal his illegal activities.
Link
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/msrv/msfullart.asp?an=19608
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