CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : Arms Smuggler Gets 3-Year Prison Term
An Iranian who masterminded a scheme to smuggle sophisticated U.S. military hardware to his homeland was sentenced to three years in federal prison. The relatively light sentence handed to Saeid Asefi Inanlou by U.S. District Judge Leland Nielsen stunned courtroom observers, especially because prosecutors labeled the crime a serious breach of national security. Two of Inanlou’s co-defendants, brothers Franklin Agustin and Edgardo Agustin, had received 13 years and 18 years, respectively, in prison sentences handed down by Nielsen in 1987. Inanlou, 42, is the last of seven defendants who were sentenced by Nielsen for stealing parts for the F-14 Tomcat fighter plane.
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