Montreal man convicted in U.S. of trying to aid Hezbollah
A Lebanese-born Montreal man is facing up to 30 years in prison in the United States and a $750,000 (US) fine after pleading guilty in a Little Rock, Ark., court to three counts related to a scheme to ship military equipment to Hezbollah.
A co-accused, a Jewish Israeli citizen living in New York, pleaded guilty in July to the one charge against him and is also awaiting sentencing.
Naji Antoine Abi Khalil, 40, chair and general manager of the Montreal-based import-export company New Line Services, and Tomer Grinberg, 31, an employee of the Tober Group, a shipping and logistics company based in Brooklyn, were indicted in June 2004 in Manhattan Federal Court for their involvement in a plan to export night-vision goggles, infrared aiming devices, and other military night-vision equipment to the Lebanon-based terrorist organization, according to information released by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Khalil, who holds dual citizenship in Canada and Lebanon and resides in both countries, was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a terrorist organization and to contribute goods to a specially designated terrorist. Both Khalil and Grinberg were charged with conspiring to export sensitive military night-vision equipment without first obtaining the necessary licenses from the U.S. State and Commerce departments. Grinberg’s maximum penalty is five years in jail and a $250,000 (US) fine.
Khalil has also been convicted of money laundering for Russian organized crime through a Beirut bank, for which he could serve up to 20 years.
The two men were arrested in May 2004 after a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the New York City Police Department.
In May 2004, Khalil flew from Montreal to New York to meet a man who he believed wanted to export stolen electronics goods, but who was in fact a witness co-operating with the FBI in the money-laundering investigation.
Their meetings at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan were monitored by law enforcement agents from an adjoining room. The co-operating witness told Khalil during one of those meetings that he had a customer who wanted to ship night-vision goggles to Hezbollah in Athens.
Khalil responded that this was not a problem and that he had “friends.”
During another meeting, the witness introduced Khalil to an undercover FBI agent posing as the “customer.” The agent provided Khalil with the point of contact and address of individuals who would receive the shipment of goggles and infrared aiming devices in Greece.
Khalil agreed to create a fictitious bill of lading so that the nature of the items and the identity of the shipper would not be revealed.
The next day, Khalil and Grinberg met the undercover agent at a storage facility in Manhattan to pick up the equipment. They were shown a crate filled with the latest technology goggles and the aiming devices, which were designed to be mounted on M-16 and other military rifles.
Khalil and Grinberg then loaded the equipment into a minivan. Khalil accepted $2,500 (US) from the agent as a down payment for the shipment. At that point, Khalil and Grinberg were arrested.
Khalil was detained and Grinberg was released on a $100,000 (US) bond.
At the time, then U.S. attorney general John Ashcroft said Khalil’s arrest demonstrated that the United States is “committed to identifying and prosecuting those who would provide equipment and support to our terrorist enemies.”
Khalil made headlines in 1992 when his wife gave birth at Montreal’s Jewish General Hospital to the first quintuplets ever born in Quebec. He had recently immigrated from Lebanon and was living on welfare.
There was an outpouring of generosity toward the family from the public, business and the government. They were later able to buy a house in suburban Dollard des Ormeaux and Khalil started his own import-export company.
