RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — 4 crew members of an unflagged vessel that U.S. officers say was carrying Iranian-made missile parts are scheduled to look Tuesday in a federal courtroom in Virginia, the place prosecutors are anticipated to argue they need to be held with out bond whereas they await trial.
The evening of Jan. 11, U.S. Central Command Navy forces, together with Navy SEALs, together with members of the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security and Safety Crew, boarded the vessel within the Arabian Sea, off the coast of Somalia. Two Navy SEALs drowned through the operation.
U.S. officers mentioned Navy Particular Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers slipped into the hole created by excessive waves between the vessel and the SEALs’ combatant craft. As Chambers fell, Navy Particular Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram jumped in to attempt to save him, in line with U.S. officers acquainted with what occurred. Efforts to search out and rescue them have been unsuccessful.
Throughout a search of the ship, U.S. forces discovered and seized Iranian-made superior typical weaponry, together with essential components for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, a warhead, and propulsion and steerage parts, an FBI agent wrote in an affidavit. The agent mentioned the gadgets discovered are in line with weaponry utilized by Houthi insurgent forces in current assaults on service provider ships and U.S. army ships within the area.
All 4 males have been carrying Pakistani identification playing cards.
Muhammad Pahlawan is charged with trying to smuggle superior missile parts, together with a warhead he’s accused of figuring out could be utilized by the Houthi rebels towards business and naval vessels within the Purple Sea and surrounding waters. He’s additionally charged with offering false info to U.S. Coast Guard officers through the boarding of the vessel.
Pahlawan’s codefendants — Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad — have been additionally charged with offering false info.
Attorneys for the lads have declined to remark.
One other 10 crew members are being detained below the federal materials witness regulation. It permits courts to subject warrants for the arrest and detention of an individual if their testimony is “materials in a legal continuing,” and if it “could grow to be impracticable to safe the presence of the particular person by subpoena.”
The FBI affidavit states that crew members had been involved a number of occasions by satellite tv for pc telephone with a member of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
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