Pair Indicted in Plot to Sell 2,000 U.S.-Made Missiles

Two men, one posing as a Latin American general, have been indicted in a plot to import and sell heat-seeking missiles to undercover agents, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.

Alan Robert Schaible, 49, and Douglas Zaglaviras, 56, were named in a one-count indictment charging them with conspiring to import about 2,000 Red-Eye missiles, said U.S. Atty. Raymond J. Dearie.

The Red-Eye, an American-made military weapon, is an 18-pound, self-propelled, heat-seeking missile capable of destroying an aircraft, according to the indictment.

Arrested at Airport

Schaible, a Naples, Fla., businessman, and Zaglaviras, a Greek national, were arrested Oct. 9 at Kennedy International Airport after a flight from Thailand, Assistant U.S. Atty. Gregory J. O’Connell said.

Zaglaviras was dressed as a five-star general from an undisclosed Latin American country and was carrying passports from Greece, Bolivia and Honduras, he said.

Both men were arraigned on a criminal complaint the next day and have been held without bail, O’Connell said.

Schaible was introduced to an undercover FBI agent in August at a hotel near the airport, where he offered to sell the missiles, according to the indictment.

2,000 Missiles

Schaible, who said he was working with a general from Latin America, agreed to sell about 2,000 missiles and promised to bring samples of the weapon to the United States, the indictment said.

The indictment said Schaible traveled from Switzerland to Austria, Spain and Thailand last month “to obtain sample Red-Eye missiles.”

No missiles were ever imported, but the indictment said Zaglaviras promised the undercover agent that three samples, which he agreed to sell for $50,000, would arrive on a future flight.

Although the two defendants showed undercover agents nothing more than brochures of the missiles, O’Connell said officials took their offer seriously.