A man admitted in San Diego federal court today that he tried to buy anti-aircraft missiles for the Taliban by selling drugs. The man is the last remaining defendant in the case. KPBS Reporter Amita Sharma has more.
Syed Mustajab Shah admitted to conspiring to distribute heroin and hashish and to receive as partial payment for the drugs four Stinger anti-aircraft missiles.
Shah acknowledged he and his co-defendants Muhamed Abid Afridi and Ilyas Ali intended to sell the weapons to the Taliban. The men considered the Taliban and Al-Qaeda to be one in the same.
According to an indictment, the men traveled in mid-September 2002 from Karachi, Pakistan to Hong Kong. There they met with undercover American law enforcement officers to negotiate the sale of heroin and hashish for the four anti-aircraft missiles.
The men were arrested later that month.
Shah is due to be sentenced in June.
Amita Sharma, KPBS News.
