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| Down Under |
| Stolen Rocket Launchers 'Sold To Terror Suspect' |
| 2007-01-07 |
| (AKI) - Australian police on Friday arrested a 28-year old gun dealer, Taha Abdul Rahman, over the theft of seven rocket launchers from the Australian military that are believed to have been for sale to a suspected terrorist and major underworld figure. According to a report on the Sydney Morning Herald quoting the Australian Federal Police, Rahman supplied two rocket launchers to one man and five others to another person who is facing terror charges on another matter. The gun dealer was arrested in his home Sydney and was charged with 17 offences - two counts of dishonestly receiving stolen property, seven counts of unauthorised possession of a prohibited weapon, seven counts of unauthorised supply of a prohibited weapon, and one count of possession of ammunition. One rocket launcher was recovered, adding to another of the missing weapons that was secured by police last year in a raid on the same home. However five launchers remain unaccounted for. The investigation into the stolen rocket launchers follows a failed deal in which police paid 50,000 dollars to a convicted drug dealer and double murderer, Adnan "Eddie" Darwiche, to recover a rocket launcher and 20 kilograms of explosives, believing that the criminal had a further three in his private arsenal. The report in the daily said that Darwiche had hoped to gain a reduction in a double life sentence he is serving. "The person who received five (launchers) is currently facing terrorism-related charges on another matter,'' Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Frank Prendergast told journalists on Friday. The news of the stolen rocket launchers was first reported last month and since then has sparked a national inquiry into the theft of military weapons including an audit of arms stockpiles in Australia. |
| Posted by:Fred |