The trial of Hemant Lakhani currently underway in New Jersey is something of a farce. The plot to smuggle a shoulder-launched missile from Russia to the US has been described by ABC News as a "government set-up from start to finish."
For example, Lakhani had no contacts in Russia to buy the missiles before the sting and had no known criminal record for arms dealing, officials told ABCNEWS.
"Here we have a sting operation on some kind of small operator … who’s bought one weapon when actually, on the gray and black market, hundreds of such weapons charge hands," said military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer.
That was underlined when Russian Federal Agent Col Constantine Olkhovski took the stand on Wednesday.
He brushed aside questions from Lakhani’s attorney about Victor Bout, a reputed weapons trafficker who lives openly in Moscow despite being wanted in Belgium for selling arms to bin Laden’s alQaeda terror network. "That question should be directed to the ministry of affairs," said Olkhovski, who supervises 20 arms trafficking agents.
Unlike Lakhani, Victor Bout is the real deal.
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