British Ask Added Data on Iranian in Jet Parts Case

British officials have asked the U.S. Justice Department for additional information about an Iranian national living in London before moving to extradite him to this country for his alleged role in a smuggling ring accused of selling stolen aircraft parts to Iran.

Sources familiar with the investigation have told The Times that the British Home Office requested the supplemental information after State Department officials asked the British to arrest Saeid Asefi Inanlou and hold him for extradition. The British have asked for more details about Inanlou’s involvement in the smuggling operation.

However, these sources said there does not appear to be a problem with Inanlou’s extradition and added that they are confident that he will eventually be brought to the United States to face trial. British law allows authorities in that country to hold a person for as long as 45 days while extradition proceedings are argued in court.

Inanlou has been charged by U.S. officials with forwarding the stolen military equipment to Iran after receiving the parts from a San Diego-based smuggling ring. Six people, including Inanlou, have been arrested in the case.

According to affidavits filed in the case, Inanlou was a corporate director of Security Aids International and did business as Chandler Trading and Chandler, Ltd. in London. British customs officials said Friday that Inanlou is still in custody and has made at least one court appearance where his extradition was discussed.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Phillip Halpern declined to comment on the extradition matter. However, a federal official said that Halpern is putting together the additional paper work requested by the British before Inanlou may be extradited.

Federal investigators said they have been investigating the ring since February, 1983. On Monday, Quintin Villanueva, regional commissioner of U.S. Customs, said that no “critical” parts or weaponry were shipped to Iran during the investigation. But Halpern raised the possibility Friday that some sophisticated weapons or military equipment may have reached the Iranians.

Halpern estimated that investigators were able to intercept only one-third of the shipments sent by ring members to Inanlou in London. Halpern’s remarks were made at a bail hearing for Primitivo B. Cayabyab, a sailor and aviation storekeeper on the Kitty Hawk. U.S. Magistrate Roger C. McKee ordered Cayabyab, a 17-year Navy veteran, held without bail.

According to Halpern, some of the sophisticated equipment that Customs agents were able to intercept was in short supply to the U.S. military, including an infrared mapping device developed about two years ago which allows a pilot to look through smoke and dust to view the bombing target. Halpern said the device is available to the U.S. military only in limited quantities.

Other parts allegedly stolen by the ring, including parts for the highly secret Phoenix air-to-air missile, were not even available to Navy pilots in San Diego, said Halpern. The prosecutor said that Cayabyab played a crucial role in procuring these parts for shipment to the Iranians.

Cayabyab’s co-defendants also are being held without bail. They include the alleged ringleader, Franklin Agustin, 47; his wife, Julie, 46; Pedro M. Quito, 60, and a retired Navy sailor. The Agustins and Quito live in San Diego. Agustin’s brother Edgardo, 45, is also being held without bail in New York.

Meanwhile, The Times has learned that U.S. investigators are looking into the possibility that some parts may have been stolen from Clark Air Base near Manila in the Philippines. Clark is the second largest base used by the Air Force and employs hundreds of Filipinos. Federal investigators said that some of the five suspects arrested in San Diego and New York come from towns near Clark.

Halpern has argued in bail hearings for the suspects that they frequently traveled to and from the Philippines. He told Magistrate McKee Thursday that the ring’s distribution network was worldwide.

“They obtained parts from areas as diverse as the Philippines, California and Virginia,” said Halpern. “It was not a conspiracy by one, two, three or five individuals . . . It took a lot of coordination and a large amount of people.”

Earlier in the week prosecutors said that, with the exception of Franklin Agustin, all the suspects arrested in the United States were naturalized American citizens. However, at Friday’s hearing Halpern said that Cayabyab’s application for U.S. citizenship had been denied.