CHINESE ARMS OFFICIAL AMONG AK-47 SMUGGLING SUSPECTS.Byline: Richard Cole
Richard Cole (born January 2, 1946) was heavily involved in the rock music business from the mid-1960s to 2003, and is most famous for being the tour manager of English rock band Led Zeppelin from Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A top Chinese arms official was among 14 people charged with smuggling smuggling, illegal transport across state or national boundaries of goods or persons liable to customs or to prohibition. Smuggling has been carried on in nearly all nations and has occasionally been adopted as an instrument of national policy, as by Great Britain 2,000 automatic AK-47 rifles into the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , federal prosecutors said Thursday. ``Involvement of the Chinese government Ever since Republic of China founded in January 1st, 1912, China has had several regional and national governments. List
Along with the automatic rifles, the Chinese arms dealers had proposed shipping far more sophisticated weapons to the United States, said Wayne Yamashita of the U.S. Customs Service. ``Weapons such as hand-held rocket launchers, anti-aircraft missiles, silenced machine guns and even tanks,'' he said. The guns were shipped by the Chinese government companies China Northern Industrial Corp., also known as Norinco, and Poly Technologies, a related company that makes weapons for the Chinese military. Among those charged in a federal complaint unsealed Thursday was Lu Yi Lun, second in command of Norinco. His boss, the head of Norinco, sent him to negotiate the deal, but was not charged. The companies attempted to disguise the origin of the weapons, according to the federal complaint, listing them as ``hand tools'' and shipping them through Japan and Hong Kong. Ring members had erased the serial numbers and converted the weapons to illegal, fully automatic rifles before the sale. The weapons had an estimated street value of $4 million. But the sale of the weapons, which Chinese officials apparently thought were going to U.S. street gangs, was actually a 16-month sting operation called ``Dragon Fire'' by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Customs Service. |
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