Fijian in New Zealand Gets Jail Sentence In United States Arms-Export Case
William Gulshan Ali, a former Fiji Airways aircraft engineer, worked and lived in New Zealand. Ali ran an unregistered private company that buys and sells aircraft parts.
AFijian-born New Zealand resident convicted of coming to the United States to buy devices with missile and space applications so he could sell them to China has been sentenced to two years in prison.
A federal jury convicted 38-year-old William Ali in December of conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act.
Ali, a former Fiji Airways engineer, claimed an undercover agent induced him to come to Seattle to purchase the devices. He worked for Air New Zealand’s subsidiary Eagle Air.
A Homeland Security agent began investigating Ali in 2015 when he contacted a US company asking for aircraft parts called accelerometers.
Federal prosecutors said he knew he needed a licence from the US State Department if he wanted to export the accelerometers and gyroscopes at issue, but he opted not to. Brad Bench, the special agent in charge of US Homeland Security Investigations in Seattle, said in a written statement following Ali’s sentencing on Thursday that the export controls are in place to keep sensitive technology from falling into the hands of the United States’ rivals.
Background
Ali was arrested following allegations that he was trying to obtain a restricted missile part in the United States.
Ali ran an unregistered private company that buys and sells aircraft parts. He informed investigators at Homeland Security Investigations that he was introduced to a Chinese client who sent him money to procure specific aircraft parts from the US.
It is believed that Mr Ali then sent one of his contacts in the US $15,000 to purchase accelerometers. He informed investigators that at the time of purchase, he was not aware that he was purchasing prohibited and controlled missile parts.
When his US contact took the money but started to elude Ali, he then travelled to America to find him and to get the items. According to information, Ali travelled to the US, met his contact and got the parts. He was to travel to Hong Kong when he was arrested and informed that he had breached the Arms Export Control Act.
Ali’s Chinese contact in the US had been under the radar of security forces for some time. It is believed that Ali was duped by his contact into purchasing restricted missile parts.