10 Indicted for Trying to Sell MIGs, Missiles to Iraq

A federal grand jury has indicted six former high-ranking Polish officials, two Southern California men and two others for allegedly trying to sell millions of dollars’ worth of MIG fighter planes, assault rifles, grenade launchers and missile systems to Iraq, federal officials said Thursday.

In a six-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn, N.Y., the 10 suspects are charged with conspiracy, dealing in firearms without a license and illegally transferring AK-47 automatic assault rifles, said Andrew J. Maloney, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

The six former Polish officials, along with an American citizen living in Poland, were arrested in Frankfurt, Germany, on March 10. The United States is seeking their extradition, officials said.

The two Californians--Ronald James Hendron, 51, of El Toro, the plot’s alleged mastermind, and Jehmin Lah, 44, of Newport Beach, its alleged financier--were arrested the next day in New York as they returned from Europe. They have since been released on bail. New York authorities also arrested a German citizen in connection with the plot.

“The proliferation of military weapons from the armories of former Eastern European Bloc countries is a matter of great concern,” said Maloney, in announcing the indictment. According to the indictment, Hendron and an employee of his El Toro-based munitions trading company, International Business Centers, acted with four of the former Polish officials as a broker to sell 105,000 assault rifles, 9,000 RPG-7 grenade launchers, 1,000 Strella antiaircraft missile systems and an unspecified number of MIG fighters to U.S. Customs undercover agents posing as representatives of Iraq.