Antiterror alliance nets arms 'sting'

A missile-sting operation that nabbed a British arms dealer trying to smuggle a missile into the US is one of the most significant acts of East-West intelligence cooperation since the end of the cold war.

US officials are pleased that Russia - despite misgivings over the invasion of Iraq - is still on board with the US war on terror.

The arrest in New Jersey Tuesday of British citizen Hemant Lakhani, who believed he was delivering the Russian missile to Al Qaeda militants aiming to bring down a commercial plane, underscores a rare coincidence of Russian domestic and international policies.

Russia's success in first learning of the sale of the shoulder-held, heat-seeking Igla missile stems from its own efforts to halt the spread of such missiles, after losing more than a dozen helicopters to guerrillas in Chechnya since late 1999.

But the arrests also point to the depth of intelligence cooperation between the former rival superpowers, which grew swiftly during the post-Sept. 11 conflict in Afghanistan.

"This is the first major result of cooperation that can be reported," says Oksana Antonenko, the Russia and Eurasia program director for the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London. "In the past, there was much speculation about its effectiveness - there were many claims that it helped stop some terror attacks, but nobody was really sure. This really is an indication that the cooperation works ... despite the events in Iraq."

The arrests are also a reminder, however, of the threats posed by the sheer volume of weaponry left behind by the collapse of the Soviet Union, and how today that weaponry, especially easy-to-handle items like the Igla missile, can be a tempting target for terrorists searching for poorly guarded equipment.

Russian officials reportedly first tipped off US intelligence five months ago to the presence of Mr. Lakhani, a known British arms dealer of Indian origin, who was in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Lakhani allegedly offered the missile for $85,000 - and wanted a downpayment of $500,000 for a promised future shipment of 50 missiles, according to US Attorney Christopher Christie, who detailed the 18-month investigation. Lakhani allegedly spoke favorably of Osama bin Laden and called Sept. 11 a "good thing."

Mr. Putin reportedly gave personal permission for the Russian agents of the Federal Security Service (FSB) the successor to the KGB, to work hand-in-hand with an FBI agent on Russian soil.

British agents were also involved when the dealer flew through London on his way to the US this weekend.

"This action marks a new stage in the development of cooperation between the special services of these countries," FSB spokesman Sergei Ignachenko was quoted as saying by Itar-Tass in Washington. He added that it was the first such cooperative operation since the Cold War.

Such cooperation is in keeping with the promises Mr. Putin and other European leaders made at the G-8 summit in France earlier this year, to stamp out illegal sales of surface-to-air missiles - and to prevent their getting into the hands of militants bent on attacks against civilians.

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