 U.S. authorities charged 18 people with weapons trafficking, including an alleged scheme to smuggle grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and other Russian military weapons into the country. The arrests resulted from a yearlong wiretap investigation that used an informant posing as an arms trafficker selling weapons to terrorists, the office of U.S. Attorney David N. Kelley said Tuesday. The defendants also are charged in a criminal complaint with conspiring to traffic in machine guns and other assault weapons, and with selling eight such weapons, Kelley said in a statement. Details of the investigation were to be discussed at a news conference later in the day, Kelley's office said. |