Officials seeking illegally exported goggles

Federal authorities are trying to determine the whereabouts of dozens of state-of-the-art goggles capable of illuminating battlefields at night and potentially undercutting the tactical advantage of U.S. soldiers if they were to fall into the wrong hands.

At least 55 pairs of third-generation night vision goggles manufactured by ITT Industries were illegally exported to Vietnam by three men purportedly running a security business out of a Huntington Beach home, authorities alleged Tuesday.

Authorities are concerned about what ultimately became of the goggles, which can fetch up to $6,000 each on the black market.

“There are individuals out there trying to acquire this technology and trying to get it to the highest bidder,” said Robert Schoch, a top official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles. “The fear is that these will get into the hands of our enemies or, in a worst-case scenario, some terrorist organization.”

Three men, described by authorities as Vietnamese-born naturalized U.S. citizens, were indicted by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana earlier this month for allegedly exporting the goggles in violation of the Arms Export Control Act. The law tightly regulates the exportation of arms, munitions and other military components, some of which are freely available for purchase in the U.S. -- the night vision goggles among them -- but are considered potential threats to national security if exported.

According to an indictment filed in federal court in Santa Ana, the defendants -- Dan Tran Dang, 62; Liem Duc Huynh, 49; and George Ngoc Bui, 49 -- ran a company called Professional Security out of the home of one of the defendants’ brothers in Huntington Beach.

The indictment alleged that the security firm “carried on little or no public business and existed primarily as a front company” for acquiring the night vision goggles.

According to the indictment, the men bought the goggles from Win-Tron Electronics, a New Jersey-based electronics wholesale distributor in 2004. Win-Tron officials became suspicious after the men allegedly told conflicting stories about how and where the goggles were going to be used and alerted federal authorities. Investigators from the Commerce Department and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service joined the ICE probe.

Prosecutors allege that the defendants smuggled at least 55 pairs of the goggles, which they purchased for $3,000 each, into Vietnam between January 2004 and February 2005. According to the indictment, Dang and others traveled to Vietnam with the goggles in their luggage and delivered them to Bui, who was believed to be living in the country.

None of the defendants could be reached for comment. An attorney for Dang did not return a telephone call seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.

Dang, of Santa Ana, and Huynh, who has since moved to Oklahoma, are scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana on Jan. 12. Bui is at large, authorities said. They face a maximum sentence of 45 years each if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Todd Tristan, who is prosecuting the case, said the investigation is ongoing and that determining who has the goggles is “one of the key objectives.”

“These goggles threaten to, in effect, turn on the lights of the modern battlefield for our enemies,” he said.

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scott.glover@latimes.com