Border Patrol in El Paso kills Mexican teen

U.S. authorities say a border agent was being pelted with stones when he opened fire. Mexicans express anger at the second border death in two weeks.

The Associated Press

June 9, 2010

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico

Mexicans are seething over the second death of a countryman at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents in two weeks, an incident near downtown El Paso that is threatening to escalate tensions over migrant issues.

U.S. authorities said Tuesday a Border Patrol agent was defending himself and colleagues when he fatally shot the 15-year-old as officers came under a barrage of big stones while trying to detain illegal immigrants on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande.

About 30 relatives and friends gathered late Tuesday to mourn Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka, whose shooting Monday evening came along the border with Texas. He died on the Mexican side of the river.

"Damn them! Damn them!" sobbed Rosario Hernandez, sister of the dead teenager, at a wake in the family's two-room adobe house on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez.

Preliminary reports on the incident indicated that U.S. officers on bicycle patrol "were assaulted with rocks by an unknown number of people," Border Patrol Special Operations Supervisor Ramiro Cordero said Tuesday.

"During the assault at least one agent discharged his firearm," he said. "The agent is currently on administrative leave. A thorough, multi-agency investigation is currently ongoing."

The shooting happened beneath a railroad bridge linking the two nations, and late Tuesday night a banner appeared on the bridge that said in English: "U.S. Border Patrol we worry about the violence in Mex and murders and now you. Viva Mexico!"

Less than two weeks ago, Mexican migrant Anastasio Hernandez, 32, died after a Customs and Border Protection officer shocked him with a stun gun at the San Ysidro border crossing that separates San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The San Diego medical examiner's office ruled that death a homicide.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Tuesday that his government "will use all resources available to protect the rights of Mexican migrants."

The government "reiterates its rejection to the disproportionate use of force on the part on U.S. authorities on the border with Mexico," the president added in a statement.

On an unpaved street, gathered around Hernandez's gray metal casket, the teen's family called for justice.

"There is a God, so why would I want vengeance if no one will return him to me. They killed my little boy and the only thing I ask is for the law" to be applied, said the boy's father, Jesus Hernandez.

His mother was less hopeful. "May God forgive them because I know nothing will happen" to them, Maria Guadalupe Huereka said.

Above the casket was a photo of the youth wearing his soccer uniform and his junior high school grade cards, which showed A's and B's.

His mother said he was a good student who never got in trouble. He was the youngest of five children, played on two soccer teams and had just finished junior high school, she said.

The case took a testy turn when U.S. and Mexican officials traded suggestions of misconduct in the incident.

Arturo Sandoval, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state Attorney General's office, said a spent .40-caliber shell casing was found near the body -- raising the question of whether the fatal shot was fired inside Mexico, although he did not explicitly make that allegation. That would violate the rules for Border Patrol agents, who are supposed to stay on the U.S. side of the border.

A U.S. official, meanwhile, said video shows the Border Patrol agent did not enter Mexico.

The official, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, said the video also shows what seem to be four Mexican law enforcement officers driving to the edge of the dry but muddy bed of the Rio Grande, walking across to the U.S. side, picking up an undetermined object and returning to Mexico near the area where the boy's body was. Like their U.S. counterparts, Mexican law officers are not authorized to cross the border without permission.

According to the FBI, Border Patrol agents were responding to a group of suspected illegal immigrants being smuggled into the U.S. near the Paso Del Norte bridge, across from Ciudad Juarez around 6:30 p.m. Monday.

One suspected illegal immigrant was detained on the levee on the U.S. side, the FBI said in a statement. Another Border Patrol agent arrived on the concrete bank where the now-dry, 33-foot (10-meter) wide Rio Grande is, and detained a second person. Other suspects ran back into Mexico and began throwing rocks, the FBI said.

At least one rock came from behind the agent, who was kneeling beside a suspected illegal immigrant whom he had prone on the ground, FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons said.

The agent told the rock throwers to stop and back off, but they continued. The agent fired his weapon several times, hitting one who later died, said the FBI, which is leading the investigation because it involved an assault on a federal officer. The agent was not injured, Simmons said.

Chihuahua state officials released a statement demanding a full investigation into the death.

The boy was shot once near the eye, Sandoval said. Authorities were still investigating the bullet's trajectory, he said.

Sandoval said he couldn't comment on the video reported by the U.S. official because he didn't know anything about it. "I am unaware about those hypotheses," he said.

Sandoval said Mexican investigators were questioning three teenagers who were with the victim at the time of the shooting.

The boy's sister, Rosario, told Associated Press Television News that her brother was playing with several friends and did not plan to cross the border.

"They say that they started firing from over there and suddenly hit him in the head," she said.

The boy's mother said he had gone to eat with his brother, who handles luggage at a border customs office. While there, he met up with a group of friends and they decided to hang out by the river, she said.

"That was his mistake, to have gone to the river," she said in an interview with Mexico's Milenio TV. "That's why they killed him."

Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said its records indicate the number of Mexicans killed or wounded by U.S. immigration authorities rose from five in 2008 to 12 in 2009 to 17 so far this year, which is not half over.

T.J. Bonner, president of the union representing Border Patrol agents, said rock throwing aimed at Border Patrol agents is common and capable of causing serious injury.

"It is a deadly force encounter, one that justifies the use of deadly force," Bonner said.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fgw-border-slaying-20100610,0,7448245,print.story

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U.S. hopes to share prison with Afghanistan

The plan would give the Obama administration a place to interrogate terrorism suspects from other countries even after control of the Bagram prison is transferred to Afghanistan next year.

By Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times

June 9, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The Obama administration wants to retain the ability to hold terrorism suspects from other countries at its largest prison in Afghanistan, even after it hands control of the facility to the Afghan government next year, according to U.S. officials.

If Afghan officials agree, it would give the administration a place to interrogate terrorism suspects captured in countries such as Somalia or Yemen. President Obama made a high-profile pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after taking office last year. But that would leave the administration without a lockup for those suspected of plotting attacks against the United States.

Administration officials have looked in recent months to the U.S.-run prison at Bagram air base north of Kabul as a place to hold suspects captured elsewhere. But Afghan officials have long demanded they be given control of the prison, and the Obama administration has agreed. Last month, Obama reiterated that promise.

Now, administration officials are developing a compromise plan to hand over control, but also carve out a section of the prison for non-Afghan detainees who would remain under U.S. custody, according to a senior U.S. official.

The proposal is still in early stages of development. It is the subject of quiet discussions among senior officials, and has not been submitted to the National Security Council or to Afghan officials. Afghan officials did not respond to calls seeking their views.

The issue encompasses the legal and ethical quandaries that continue to engulf U.S. detention policy. Under a recent U.S. appeals court decision, the prison at Bagram air base is outside the reach of federal courts. The ruling means that prisoners held there cannot challenge their detention or demand legal rights, unlike detainees at Guantanamo.

The senior U.S. official, who along with others spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan is not final, said Bagram remains the best option for holding future terrorism suspects captured elsewhere in the world. The official said a final decision on using Bagram probably would be made only after U.S. forces capture a suspect in an area with few detention options and officials decide that interrogations are necessary.

Terrorism suspects from Afghanistan or Pakistan probably would be sent to Bagram as well, but be held under Afghan jurisdiction, they said.

Officials said no plans have been approved to send militants from outside Afghanistan to Bagram.

"No decision has been made to house international terrorism suspects at Bagram," said Maj. Tanya Bradsher, a Pentagon spokeswoman.

Bradsher added that the U.S. was not considering transferring any of the fewer than 200 detainees remaining at Guantanamo to Bagram.

There are about 800 detainees at Bagram. Fewer than 10 are detainees from outside Afghanistan or the Pakistan border region.

The U.S. is scheduled to hand over the Bagram prison early next year. Afghans chafe at having a foreign power detain their citizens. Giving Kabul formal control would meet a key demand by President Hamid Karzai, and could help reduce tensions created by U.S. control.

Once the Afghan government takes control of the prison from the U.S. military, U.S. interrogation rules — including prohibitions on the use of physical force against detainees contained in the Army Field Manual — no longer will technically apply to the overall prison population, Bradsher said.

"Detainees will be under the exclusive custody and control of the government of Afghanistan and subject to its laws," Bradsher said. She said that although the facility would be under the control of the Afghan government, U.S. forces would remain in a "mentoring and supporting role."

But other officials said that if the United States retained control of a part of the facility, the field manual would probably continue to govern the interrogation of any prisoners who remained in U.S. custody.

Despite the insistence that no final decision has been made on Bagram, officials note that other options for holding terrorism suspects are being cut off.

The current version of the Defense authorization bill, a spending plan that has been approved by the House of Representatives and is being debated by the Senate, restricts the Obama administration from renovating a state prison in Illinois to hold detainees from Guantanamo.

Although primarily intended to hold such detainees, the prison in Thomson, Ill., also could have been used to hold other non-American terrorism suspects. Administration officials still plan to someday use Thomson, but will not be able to quickly modify the prison to hold Guantanamo detainees.

The House Armed Services Committee voted to require the Obama administration to seek congressional approval before redesigning the prison in Illinois.

In the past, U.S. military officials in Afghanistan have opposed bringing additional detainees from outside the war zone to Bagram, fearful it could delay the handoff of the prison and erode relations between Washington and Kabul.

The Obama administration is building up the number of troops in Afghanistan to nearly 100,000, in hopes of stabilizing the country, and with plans to start bringing them home next year. A key part of the strategy is to strengthen Karzai's government, but relations have been testy, particularly after elections last year that were tainted by fraud.

The compromise plan being discussed by officials in Washington preserves Afghan control and meets the need of other military and intelligence officials for a secure overseas prison at which to interrogate suspects.

Senior Defense officials have expressed frustration that the U.S. lacks an overseas prison where new terrorism suspects can be held. Some Defense officials believe the U.S. is often pushed into trying to kill militants, instead of attempting to capture and question them. Some detainees can be held by friendly governments in the countries in which they are captured. But in such situations, American interrogators do not have control of the suspects.

Allowing the U.S. to hold detainees at the prison at Bagram, known to the military as the Parwan detention facility, would give American interrogators an ability to question suspected terrorists directly, an approach considered more effective.

Human rights organizations are likely to view the creation of another detention facility outside the reach of U.S. law as a betrayal by the Obama administration.

The administration earned accolades from liberal groups after announcing steps to close Guantanamo early in the administration and end the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation tactics.

Since then, however, human rights organizations increasingly have criticized the White House for reviving military commissions and wavering over federal trials for the Sept. 11 masterminds.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-fg-bagram-20100609,0,7708073,print.story

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China makes rare public protest against North Korea over killing of 3

Border guards killed three Chinese smuggling suspects; a fourth was wounded. The protest comes amid China's refusal to take sides in North Korea's alleged sinking of a South Korean naval ship.

By Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times

June 9, 2010

Reporting from Beijing

China formally protested on Tuesday that three of its citizens were killed and a fourth wounded by North Korean border guards who opened fire last week in an apparent attempt to crack down on smuggling.

The Chinese were from the border city of Dandong, site of the Friendship Bridge, across the Yalu River, commemorating China's support for the North during the Korean War. According to reports in the South Korean media, the Chinese were suspected of smuggling copper wire out of the North Korean city of Sinuiju, which is on the other side of the bridge. The reports said they were on a boat on the river when they were shot Friday.

"In the aftermath of the incident, China has paid a lot of attention to this issue and has made a formal diplomatic protest to North Korea," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said, reading an official statement at a regular news briefing in Beijing.

The incident comes in the midst of a furor over the March 26 sinking of a South Korean naval ship that killed 46 sailors. At least publicly, China has refused to take sides, angering South Korean and U.S. officials who say there is overwhelming evidence that an unprovoked North Korean torpedo attack caused the ship to go down.

The irony of China's protest over last week's shooting was not lost on South Korea.

"This time it is their citizens who are killed, and they show they are not so naive after all about North Korea," said Kim Tae Jin, a North Korean defector and human rights activist in Seoul. However, he applauded China's protest of the shooting. China needs to show North Korean leader Kim Jong Il "that he can't get away with whatever he wants," Kim said.

China's public protest is unusual in that relations between China and North Korea are normally shrouded in secrecy, to be discussed only in the politburos of the longtime communist allies.

"It is rare for China to publicly complain. Usually there is a private apology or money paid," said Kim Heung Gwang, a former North Korean college professor and head of Seoul-based North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity.

The stretch of the Yalu just south of Dandong is frequently trafficked by smugglers, some of them bringing North Korean-made drugs into China or banned Chinese products, such as DVDs or cellphones, into North Korea.

The North Korean government is especially strict about the export of copper, which has been looted from factories, electrical and telecommunications facilities by Northerners desperate for money. But the North's border guards do not normally shoot to kill — at least not when the smugglers are Chinese.

"Only their own people," said Kim.

Tensions remain high in the region over the sinking of the South Korean ship. The Global Times, an English-language newspaper with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, on Tuesday complained about joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises planned for the Yellow Sea, where the Cheonan went down. Some reports said the George Washington, a U.S. aircraft carrier, would participate, although the Pentagon said a decision had not been made.

"Though intended to send a threatening message to North Korea, having a U.S. aircraft carrier participating in joint military drills off of China's coast would certainly be a provocative action toward China," the newspaper editorialized.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-north-korea-shoot-20100609,0,4156473,print.story

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Vintage military rocket found pointing toward Hemet police building

Authorities were investigating Tuesday whether a vintage military rocket discovered on the roof of a Hemet market, pointed in the direction of a nearby police facility, is related to a series of attacks targeting the Hemet police.

The rocket, with its motor ignited, was discovered Thursday after firefighters checked the Los Altos Market rooftop and found a wooden pallet fire had broken out inside. Shortly after the 10 p.m. fire in the 100 block of North Carmalita Street, police and the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's hazardous device team rendered the rocket safe.

Hemet police Lt. Duane Wisehart said the device was determined to be an inert training rocket whose motor was ignited by unknown means. It appeared the approximately nine-pound rocket was pointing in the general direction of a police facility and could have done considerable damage as a projectile, Wisehart said.

The incident is being investigated by Hemet police and the task force investigating the attacks. In recent months, the attacks have involved booby traps set at the headquarters of the Hemet-San Jacinto Valley Gang Task Force, officials said. In December, a gas utility line was redirected to fill the offices with gas. Officials said a spark could have triggered a devastating explosion.

In early March, police said, a "dangerous" device was found near the unmarked car of a task force member. That was followed by an arson attack on several city trucks March 23. Authorities were also investigating whether a fire at the Hemet police shooting range was another attack on the department.

A law enforcement source familiar with the probe said task force members believe the attacks — including booby traps set at police facilities and the torching of several city vehicles — appear to be the work of a white supremacist gang.

In April, the department made 23 arrests for a series of unrelated crimes. Some of those arrested are tied to prior hate crimes and white supremacist gangs.

A $200,000.00 reward is being offered by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors and others for arrests and convictions in the attacks. Anyone with any information is asked to call (877) 644-1449 or by e-mail at tips@cityofhemet.org .

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/military-rocket-found-pointing-toward-hemet-police-building.html#more

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From the New York Times

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U.S. Delays Release of Report Tying Meth to Mexico

WASHINGTON — In an apparent effort to minimize diplomatic turbulence with the Mexican government, the Obama administration has been delaying for weeks the release of a Justice Department report that describes a “high and increasing” availability of methamphetamine mainly because of large-scale drug production in Mexico .

The report , obtained by The New York Times, is called the 2010 National Methamphetamine Threat Assessment by the National Drug Intelligence Center of the Justice Department. It portrays drug cartels as easily able to circumvent the Mexican government's restrictions on the importing of chemicals used to manufacture meth, which has reached its highest purity and lowest price in the United States since 2005.

Completed in mid-May, the report — which in previous years has been distributed to state and local police forces and posted online without fanfare or controversy — has not yet been released, partly because of the increasingly delicate politics of the United States-Mexico border and drugs.

At one point, copies of the report were printed and boxes of it were shipped to San Diego to be distributed to law enforcement officials at a meth conference. But White House officials raised concerns because that same week President Felipe Calderón of Mexico was coming to Washington for a state visit. The release of the report has since been repeatedly delayed.

The report was particularly touchy because it came less than two months after the distribution of another National Drug Intelligence Center study that had portrayed the drug trafficking situation in Mexico in stark terms, prompting complaints from the Mexican government.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Tracy Schmaler, said that there was no intention to suppress the report by the National Drug Intelligence Center, or N.D.I.C., and that the department was delaying its release for administrative reasons.

“As part of our continuing efforts to more effectively provide accurate information to the law enforcement community and the public, the department is working with N.D.I.C. on a process to review and publish its reports,” Ms. Schmaler said. “The department intends to meet with N.D.I.C. officials in the near future to finalize that process. Until that meeting can take place, the publication of a recent draft report on methamphetamine has been postponed.”

The internal wrangling over the center's Mexico-related drug reports traces back to March 23, when a delegation of top Obama administration officials — including Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton — went to Mexico City for a show of solidarity in fighting drug cartels.

But the positive diplomatic feelings that resulted from that meeting were soon marred by an apparent coincidence. On March 25, two days after the trip, the National Drug Intelligence Center — which is based in Johnstown, Pa., and led by a career official, Michael Walther — publicly distributed its annual National Drug Threat Assessment .

It portrayed the Mexican drug cartel situation in a harsh light, describing a surge in production of heroin and marijuana due to “greatly reduced efforts to eradicate drug crops” in Mexico. An Obama administration official and an official in the Mexican government each said that Mexico raised concerns with the United States about the report.

In particular, a senior Mexican official complained that the timing of the report's release was poor, that it had failed to acknowledge the significant efforts Mexico was undertaking to fight drug trafficking organizations and that its drug crop estimates were exaggerated, according to a Mexican official familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Several weeks later, in mid-April, the White House drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske — technically the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy — asked the acting deputy attorney general, Gary G. Grindler, to make future installments of the center's annual national drug threat assessment report classified. This would preclude routinely distributing the document to the state and local police and posting it online for public access. Both officials had attended the Mexico City meeting.

In an interview, Patrick M. Ward, a top aide to Mr. Kerlikowske, said he had no knowledge of any irritation expressed by the Mexican government about the earlier March report.

But Mr. Ward said that making the reports classified in the future would permit the government to include secret information, which would make them more complete. If this course was chosen, he also said the administration could ask the center to “provide an unclassified summary” that could be provided to people without federal security clearances.

In May, the center sent advance copies of its new meth report to the White House and to Justice Department headquarters, according to a department official familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity. It also printed about 300 copies and shipped them to San Diego for distribution at a conference about efforts to block the flow of chemicals used to manufacture meth.

But an official in the White House drug czar's office pointed out that Mr. Calderón's state visit was scheduled for about that same time, May 19 and 20.

Responding to this concern, the center planned to delay the release of the report until the week after the Calderón visit. But the drug czar's office criticized that plan as well, prompting a further delay, the Justice Department official said.

Finally, at the end of May, the White House drug office granted permission to release the report on the condition that the center first brief the Mexican ambassador, Arturo Sarukhán, about its contents. A meeting to do so at the Mexican Embassy was set for June 3.

But the night before the planned briefing, the office of the acting deputy attorney general told the center that the meeting was being postponed without setting a new date, and that the release of the report was being indefinitely delayed, the Justice Department official said.

Ms. Schmaler declined a request for an interview with Mr. Grindler, but said the report might be released after Justice Department headquarters and the center completed a new process for pre-publication review of the center's products.

For now, however, the report remains in official limbo.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/world/americas/09mexico.html?ref=world&pagewanted=print

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Their Dangerous Swagger

WASHINGTON

It was set up like a fantasy football league draft. The height, weight and performance statistics of the draftees were offered to decide who would make the cut and who would emerge as the No. 1 pick.

But the players in this predatory game were not famous N.F.L. stars. They were unwitting girls about to start high school.

A group of soon-to-be freshmen boys at Landon, an elite private grade school and high school for boys in the wealthy Washington suburb of Montgomery County, Md., was drafting local girls.

One team was called “The Southside Slampigs,” and one boy dubbed his team with crude street slang for drug-addicted prostitutes.

The young woman who was the “top pick” was described by one of the boys in a team profile he put up online as “sweet, outgoing, friendly, willing to get down and dirty and [expletive] party. Coming in at 90 pounds, 5'2 and a bra size 34d.” She would be a special asset to the team, he noted, because her mother “is quite the cougar herself.”

Before they got caught last summer, the boys had planned an “opening day party,” complete with T-shirts, where the mission was to invite the drafted girls and, unbeknownst to them, score points by trying to rack up as many sexual encounters with the young women as possible.

“They evidently got points for first, second and third base,” said one outraged father of a drafted girl. “They were going to have parties and tally up the points, and money was going to be exchanged at the end of the season.” He said that the boys would also have earned points for “schmoozing with the parents.”

His daughter, he said, “was very upset about it. She thought these guys were her friends. This is the way we teach boys to treat women, young ladies? You have enough to worry about as a 14- or 15-year-old girl without having to worry about guys who are doing it as sport.”

Another parent was equally appalled: “I think the girls felt like they were getting targeted, that this was some big game. Talk about using people. It doesn't get much worse than that.”

Landon is where the sons of many prominent members of the community are sent to learn “the code of character,” where “a Landon man” is part of a “true Brotherhood” and is known for his good word, respect and honesty. The school's Web site boasts about the Landon Civility Code; boys are expected to “work together to eliminate all forms of disrespect” and “respect one another and our surroundings in our decorum, appearance, and interactions.”

The Washington suburban community of private school parents has also been reeling this spring from the tragedy involving former Landon student George Huguely V, a scion of the family that owned the lumber business that helped build the nation's capital.

Huguely, who was a University of Virginia lacrosse player, was charged in the brutal death of his sometime girlfriend, Yeardley Love, a lacrosse player on the university's women's team who also hailed from Maryland.

The lovely young woman's door was kicked in and her head was smashed over and over into the wall.

The awful crime, chronicled on the cover of People with the headline “Could She Have Been Saved?,” raised haunting questions about why Huguely had not already been reported to authorities, even though other lacrosse players had seen him choke Love at a party and his circle knew that the athlete had attacked a sleeping teammate whom he suspected had kissed Love. Huguely had also been so out-of-control drunk, angry and racially abusive with a policewoman in 2008 that she had to Taser him.

In The Washington Post, the sports columnist Sally Jenkins wrote about the swagger of young male athletes and the culture of silence that protects their thuggish locker-room behavior.

“His teammates and friends, the ones who watched him smash up windows and bottles and heard him rant about Love,” she wrote. “Why didn't they turn him in? ... Why did they not treat Yeardley Love as their teammate, too?”

Some of the parents of girls drafted for the Landon sex teams think that the punishment for those culpable should have been greater, and the notification to parents should have been more thorough. Was the macho culture of silence in play?

Jean Erstling, Landon's director of communications, said she was “aware of the incident” but that “student records including disciplinary infractions are confidential.”

She said that “Landon has an extensive ethics and character education program which includes as its key tenets respect and honesty. Civility toward women is definitely part of that education program.”

Time for a curriculum overhaul. Young men everywhere must be taught, beyond platitudes, that young women are not prey.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/09/opinion/09dowd.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

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From ICE

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American citizen from Maryland and 5 Iranians indicted in conspiracy to illegally provide satellite technology to Iran

GREENBELT, Md. - A federal grand jury has indicted six individuals -- one American and five Iranian citizens -- on charges of conspiring to illegally provide satellite hardware and technology to Iran, in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and money laundering. The indictment alleges that as a result of the conspiracy, an Iranian earth satellite equipped with a camera was launched into space in Russia on about Oct. 27, 2005. The indictment was returned on June 2, 2010, and unsealed today.

Charged in the indictment are: Nader Modanlo, 49, of Potomac, Md., a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Iran; Hamid Malmirian, 53; Reza Heidari, 52; Mohammad Modares, 44; Abdol Reza Mehrdad, 43; and Sirous Naseri, 55, all Iranian nationals.

Nader Modanlo was arrested this morning and has an initial appearance scheduled today at 2:00 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt. The other defendants remain at large.

The indictment was announced by U. S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Secretary for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) John Morton; and Special Agent in Charge Rebecca Sparkman of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation, Washington D.C. Field Office.

"Keeping our nation safe is ICE's top priority. To that end, we will vigorously investigate and prosecute individuals who attempt to export items to countries like the Islamic Republic of Iran," said ICE Assistant Secretary John Morton. "This case should send a message to those who seek to jeopardize the security of the United States by wilfully violating our customs laws - we will find you, and we will bring you to justice."

"The indictment alleges that the defendants violated the Iran Trade Embargo by creating a front company to conceal the fact that they were providing goods, technology and services to Iran in return for millions of dollars," said U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein. "The Iran Trade Embargo prohibits Americans from supplying goods, technology and services to Iran directly or indirectly, and an investigation led by ICE and the IRS led to in these allegations that the defendants violated that embargo."

"The IRS-Criminal Investigation, along with our law enforcement partners, takes these violations of law very seriously," stated Rebecca Sparkman, IRS-Criminal Investigation special agent in charge, Washington DC Field Office. "The IRS has stepped up its efforts in the global community and promoters of international fraud should be aware that they are under the watchful scrutiny of the IRS."

The president of the United States issued an Executive Order in 1995 imposing a trade embargo against Iran, after finding that Iran's policies and actions posed a threat to the national security of the United States. Under the embargo, the Department of the Treasury, through the Office of Foreign Assets Control, issued the Iranian Transactions Regulations, which prohibited the export, re-export, sale or supply, directly or indirectly, by a U.S. citizen, of goods, technology, or services to Iran or the government of Iran, without prior authorization of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

According to the indictment, from January 2000 through Nov. 27, 2007, Modanlo, Malmirian, Heidari, Modares, Mehrdad and Naseri concocted a scheme to evade the Iran trade embargo, by using sham companies to conceal Iranian involvement in prohibited activities and transactions. The indictment states that beginning in 1992, Modanlo was the principal owner, chairman and president of Final Analysis, Inc. (FAI) in Maryland. Beginning in 1994, FAI contracted with POLYOT, an aerospace enterprise company owned by the government of the Russian Federation, to provide launch services for FAI satellites. From 1995 through 2000, FAI and POLYOT also designed, constructed and launched a satellite and an in-orbit communications system.

Modanlo and other FAI personnel met with POLYOT officials as part of that relationship. As required by law, Modanlo obtained U.S. export licenses in order to export and launch the telecommunications satellites and other equipment from Russia.

In November 2001, Modanlo established New York Satellite Industries, LLC, (NYSI) after creditors filed a petition to place FAI into involuntary bankruptcy. NYSI purchased FAI's assets and Modanlo served as Chairman and managing member of NYSI, using his home address as NYSI's business address.

Beginning in 2000, Modanlo brokered an agreement between POLYOT and a customer in Iran to construct and launch satellites and a ground station. The indictment charges that Modanlo met with Malmirian, who held himself out as an Iranian government representative, and POLYOT officials to discuss a Russian-Iranian satellite agreement, reaching an agreement for the design, development, assembly, integration, test and launch of a small low-earth orbiting spacecraft and the installation of a ground station in December 2001.

Between December 2001 and April 2002, Modanlo, Naseri, Heidari and Malmirian traveled to a foreign country to seek an intermediary to form a company called Prospect Telecom in order to conceal Iranian participation as an investor/lender in Modanlo's satellite telecommunications activities. Between April and June 2002, Heidari, Modares and Mehrdad allegedly established Prospect Telecom and opened a bank account overseas in the name of Prospect Telecom.

The indictment further alleges that Heidari, Modares, Naseri, and Mehrdad caused $10 million to be wired from Prospect Telecom's bank account overseas to Modanlo's NYSI account in Bowie, Maryland, in consideration for Modanlo's assistance to Iran and the Iranians in brokering the satellite agreement with Russia and for NYSI providing telecommunications services in support of that agreement. According to the indictment, Heidari and Modanlo agreed that NYSI would assist in obtaining telecommunications service provider licenses for the owners of Prospect Telecom and for the benefit of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The indictment alleges that Modanlo and Heidari also provided false information about Prospect Telecom during bankruptcy proceedings in order to conceal the Iranians' interest in Prospect Telecom.

The indictment also seeks the forfeiture of $10 million from each of the defendants, which is alleged to be the proceeds of the offense.

The defendants face a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy.

Nader Modanlo also faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each of three counts of violating the Iran Trade Embargo. Modanlo, Heidari, Modares and Mehrdad face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for money laundering.

U. S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U. S. Attorneys David I. Salem and Deborah A. Johnston, who are prosecuting the case.

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/1006/100608baltimore.htm

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From the FBI

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Sixteen Members of International Organized Crime Group Charged with Kidnapping, Narcotics, Robbery and Firearms Crimes

NEW YORK—Sixteen defendants were charged today with various counts of kidnapping in aid of a racketeering enterprise, narcotics trafficking, robbery and firearms possession, announced Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, George Venizelos, the Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, and Raymond W. Kelly, the Police Commissioner of the City of New York.

Bruno Krasniqi, Saimir Krasniqi, Elton Sejdaris, Erkliant Sula, Skender Cakoni, aka “Neri,” Gjovalin Berisha, aka “Cuz,” Nazih Nasser, aka “Naz,” Plaurent Cela, and Gentian Nikolli, aka “Genti,” were arrested this morning at their respective homes in New York by members of the Joint Organized Crime Task Force, which includes agents of the FBI and detectives of the New York City Police Department (NYPD).  Shkelzen Balidemaj was arrested this morning in his home in Branford, Conn.  Gentian Cara, Marjan Tamali and Joanna Pakulski, each residents of Canada, were arrested this morning by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police based on requests for their provisional arrest in connection with the Indictments.  Three defendants remain at large.

The defendants arrested in New York and Connecticut are expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan this afternoon.

As alleged in the indictments unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

Bruno Krasniqi, Saimir Krasniqi, Elton Sejdaris and others participated in a racketeering enterprise (hereinafter, the Krasniqi Organization) that was engaged in kidnapping, narcotics trafficking, extortion, robbery and the interstate transportation of stolen goods.  The Krasniqi Organization was led by brothers Bruno Krasniqi and Saimir Krasniqi, and operated in New York, Michigan and Connecticut, among other locations.  The Krasniqi Organization sought to enrich its members through various criminal schemes, including the trafficking of marijuana and used firearms and threats of violence to protect its power and territory, as well as to instill fear among rival drug dealers and victims.

In total, the Krasniqi Organization and their co-conspirators – specifically, Bruno Krasniqi, Saimir Krasniqi, Erkliant Sula, Skender Cakoni, Gjovalin Berisha, Nazih Nasser, Gentian Nikolli, Shkelzen Balidemaj, Plaurent Cela, Gentian Cara, Marjan Tamali and Joanna Pakulski – are charged with having trafficked and distributed more than 100 kilograms of marijuana, from 2003 through 2007.

In addition to narcotics trafficking, members of the Krasniqi Organization engaged in robberies and kidnappings.  Specifically, on or about June 2005, after obtaining a multi-kilogram load of marijuana from one of the Krasniqi Organization's marijuana suppliers (CC-1) and Plaurent Cela, Bruno Krasniqi, Saimir Krasniqi, Elton Sejdaris and other members of the Krasniqi Organization used guns and threats of violence to rob CC-1 and Cela of the marijuana and the marijuana proceeds.  Subsequently, Bruno Krasniqi, Saimir Krasniqi and Elton Sejdaris, along with other co-conspirators, kidnapped another rival drug dealer at gunpoint.

In addition to these charges, other members of the narcotics conspiracy – including Plaurent Cela and Skender Cakoni – are charged with firearms offenses.  Specifically, after members of the Krasniqi Organization robbed CC-1 and Cela of marijuana and the proceeds of marijuana trafficking, Cela, Cakoni and others obtained firearms to protect their narcotics business and attempted to violently retaliate for the robbery of narcotics by members of the Krasniqi Organization.

The attached table summarizes the charges and potential penalties in the indictments.

The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Richard J. Holwell.  The initial conference before Judge Holwell is scheduled for June 15, 2010, at 12:00 P.M. EDT.

U.S. Attorney Bharara praised the outstanding work of the FBI and NYPD in the Joint Organized Crime Task Force in the investigation.  He added that the investigation is continuing.  In addition, Mr. Bharara expressed his gratitude to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for their cooperation in the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Bharara said:  “Led by brothers Bruno and Saimir Krasniqi, this international organized crime group allegedly engaged in kidnapping, robbery, narcotics trafficking and acts violence to fund and protect its operations.  This investigation, which has spanned multiple states and two neighboring countries, demonstrates the ongoing commitment of the Southern District of New York and the Joint Organized Crime Task Force to pursue the ever-present threat posed by international organized crime operating within our borders and on our streets.”

FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said:  “The alleged charges from today's arrests include robbery, firearms possession, narcotics trafficking, and kidnapping.  These indictments highlight problems that not only impact the citizens of New York City.  The crimes committed have a major effect on criminal organizations and public safety worldwide.  As witnessed today, cooperation between dedicated groups of law enforcement partners is, and will continue to be, a critical factor for successfully defending threats that endanger our societies and citizens, both at home and abroad.”

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly said: “The nexus between violence and marijuana trafficking was never clearer than in this case, where rivals reverted to kidnapping and intimidation to control the market.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Avi Weitzman is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the indictments are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defendant	Age	Residence
Bruno Krasniqi	26	Staten Island, N.Y.
Saimir Krasniqi	29	Staten Island, N.Y.
Elton Sejdaris	26	Staten Island, N.Y.
Erkliant Sula	25	Staten Island, N.Y.
Skender Cakoni	44	Queens, N.Y.
Gjovalin Berisha	30	Bronx, N.Y.
Nazih Nasser	35	Queens, N.Y.
Gentian Nikolli	33	Queens, N.Y.
Shkelzen Balidemaj	39	Branford, C.T.
Plaurent Cela	29	Brooklyn, N.Y.
Gentian Cara	37	Toronto, Canada
Marjan Tamali	35	Toronto, Canada
Joanna Pakulski	36	Toronto, Canada

Ct	Charge	Defendant	Maximum Penalty
1	Kidnapping in Aid of a Racketeering Enterprise	Bruno Krasniqi Saimir Krasniqi Elton Sejdaris	life imprisonment; 5 years' supervised release; $250,000 or twice the amount of criminal proceeds
2	Use And Carrying Of A Firearm	Bruno Krasniqi Saimir Krasniqi Elton Sejdaris	life imprisonment with 7 years to run consecutively with any other imprisonment; 5 years' supervised release; $250,000 or twice the amount of criminal proceeds
3	Narcotics Conspiracy	Bruno Krasniqi Saimir Krasniqi Erkliant Sula Shkelzen Balidemaj Plaurent Cela Skender Cakoni Gentian Cara Marjan Tamali Gjovalin Berisha Nazih Nasser Gentian Nikolli Joanna Pakulski	40 years' imprisonment with a mandatory minimum term of 5 years; $2,000,000 fine or twice gross gain/loss from the offense; mandatory min 4 years' supervised release with a maximum term of life supervised release
4	Use And Carrying Of A Firearm	Bruno Krasniqi Saimir Krasniqi Elton Sejdaris	life imprisonment with 7 years to run consecutively with any other imprisonment, or 25 years to run consecutively if it's a second firearms conviction; 5 years' supervised release; $250,000 or twice the amount of criminal proceeds
5	Hobbs Act Robbery Conspiracy	Bruno Krasniqi Saimir Krasniqi Elton Sejdaris	20 yrs. in prison; 3 yrs. supervised release; $250,000 fine or twice the gain or loss from the offense
6	Use And Carrying Of A Firearm	Plaurent Cela Skender Cakoni	life imprisonment with 5 years to run consecutively with any other imprisonment; 5 years' supervised release; $250,000 fine

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel10/nyfo060810.htm

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