Man Guilty in Smuggling Missile Parts to Egypt

In a plea bargain with federal prosecutors, an Egyptian-born rocket scientist pleaded guilty Friday to attempting to smuggle out highly sophisticated missile components to the military of his native country.

As Abdelkader Helmy switched his plea to guilty to a single charge in a multicount indictment, U.S. District Judge Raul A. Ramirez noted that Helmy may be required to testify against unspecified officials of the Egyptian government.

During questioning of Helmy, the jurist told him, without elaboration, “You could be called on to testify against agents and high-ranking authorities of the Egyptian government.” Helmy said he understood this.

In exchange for dropping all but the one charge to which he pleaded guilty, Helmy, a former rocket propulsion scientist employed by Aerojet Solid Propulsion Co. near Sacramento, agreed to “fully cooperate” with federal agents investigating other defendants, including two Egyptian nationals.

The slightly built, bearded and balding scientist stood stiffly at attention during the hourlong session and answered the judge’s questions in a soft, heavily accented voice. At one point, he said that if the plea agreement were to turn sour on him, he would have no option but “to trust my God.”

Helmy, 41, a naturalized American citizen, pleaded guilty to attempting to export without a license from the State Department about 430 pounds of a carbon phenolic fabric, a high-tech material used for ballistic missile nose cones, rocket nozzles and radar-evading aircraft.

The maximum sentence for the offense is 10 years in prison and a $1-million fine. Under the plea agreement, which is subject to approval by Ramirez, U.S. Atty. David F. Levy recommended that Helmy be sentenced to serve almost five years in prison and be fined up to $358,690.

Federal authorities have identified Helmy as the key American figure in an alleged illegal operation to smuggle missile system components and technical data out of the United States to Egypt, an American ally in the Middle East.

Helmy, who lives in the Sacramento suburb of El Dorado Hills, allegedly was sent $1 million from a Swiss bank account between December, 1982, and March, 1988. Customs agents subsequently seized $810,000 from his bank accounts, which officials said would be forfeited to the federal government under the plea arrangement.

Also charged in what the government contends was an elaborate illegal export and money-laundering scheme are James Huffman, 47, of Lexington, Ohio, a defense aerospace company marketing representative; Hussam Yusef, an Egyptian colonel and diplomat based in Austria, and Faud Algamal, who entered the United States as an Egyptian diplomat.

Federal authorities said Helmy had been under close surveillance before the seizure at Baltimore-Washington airport last June 24 of a shipment of the carbon fabric as it was about to be loaded aboard an Egyptian military C-130 cargo plane.

The indictment also charged that in March, 1988, the defendants actually smuggled out of the country the fabric and two technical manuals that dealt with the use of carbon materials.

Huffman, free on $250,000 bond, is scheduled to be tried Aug. 8. Levy noted that efforts have been under way to extradite Yusef and Algamal, who are believed to be in Egypt. However, besides being difficult to pursue, both could invoke diplomatic immunity from prosecution in the United States.