Ye scurvy landlubber from the UK be thrown in the brig for plottin' to get a mighty microwave contraption fer Iran!
2024-02-01
Saber Fakih, a scurvy dog of 48 summers, did plead guilty to connivin' in the acquisition of a fearsome high-powered microwave system and a counter-drone contraption, all for the treacherous land of Iran! The U.S. Attorney's Office made this grand announcement on Thursday, arrr!
A United Kingdom citizen named Saber Fakih has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after confessing to conspiring to obtain a high-powered microwave system and counter-drone system from the United States and sending it to Iran. The U.S. Attorney's Office revealed this news, stating that Fakih conspired with individuals from Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran to export these systems. The Attorney's Office explained that the industrial microwave system (IMS) could potentially be used as a high-power microwave-based directed-energy weapon, while the counter-drone system has both commercial and military applications.The U.S. Attorney, Matthew Graves, argued that Fakih posed a significant threat to national security by attempting to procure these systems for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a designated foreign terrorist organization. Graves also stated that Fakih's actions violated the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Iranian Transactions and Sanctions regulations.
Following his prison sentence, Fakih will be under three years of supervised release, as ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich. The investigation revealed that Fakih and his co-conspirators had attempted to export the systems to Iran in 2017 and 2018. Fakih admitted to being the main liaison between the Iranian buyer and the U.S.-based seller of the IMS. He was involved in placing a bid, inspecting the machine, and corresponding with the vendor on behalf of Alireza Taghavi. Fakih acknowledged knowing that the systems were destined for Iran.
In addition to Fakih, the U.S. also charged another co-conspirator, an Iranian national named Jalal Rohollahnejad, with smuggling, wire fraud, and related offenses. Rohollahnejad helped facilitate the transfer of approximately $450,000 from Iran to the UAE, where it was converted into U.S. dollars and then sent to the U.S. through a series of wire transfers.
Saber Fakih's arrest took place in the U.K. in February 2021 after the U.S. issued an extradition request. The FBI's Baltimore Field Office, HSI's Baltimore Field Office, and the Washington Field Office of the U.S. Department of Commerce conducted the investigation, with the case being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice's National Security Division's Counterespionage and Export Control Section.