Indonesian sentenced in Tiger arms deal

BALTIMORE (AP), Saturday - An Indonesian caught in a sting operation trying to smuggle weapons to a Sri Lankan terrorist organization was sentenced to more than three years in prison on Friday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Haji Subandi, 70, was sentenced to 37 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake.

Subandi had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, two counts of money laundering and attempted exportation of arms and munitions. According to the plea agreement, Subandi and three others contacted an undercover business in Maryland and sent an itemized wish list of weapons they wanted to acquire for the Tamil Tigers.

They arranged to transfer money into an undercover bank account to pay for the weapons. The three others were arrested Sept. 29, 2006 in Guam after they met with undercover agents to discuss further arms deals. Subandi conspired with the others to export state-of-the-art firearms, machine guns and ammunition, surface to air missiles, night vision goggles and other military weapons to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) operating within Sri Lanka, to be used to fight against Sri Lankan government forces.