Two men face charges of aiding Iran

A federal grand jury charged two Taiwanese men with conspiring to export military equipment from the US to Iran in violation of the US-imposed Iranian embargo, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The defendants, identified as En-Wei Eric Chang (張恩偉), 28, and David Chu (朱龍翔), 39, allegedly sought to buy satellite images of Tehran, night-vision equipment, helicopter and aircraft parts, and early-warning radar antennas beginning in January last year for resale to a buyer in Iran.

But the Maryland company they approached via e-mail from Taiwan turned out to be an undercover operation of the US Customs Service, prosecutors said.

Chang and Chu allegedly paid US$12,800 for cavity-backed spiral antennas capable of alerting military pilots to the presence of enemy radar and radio communications. The components were manufactured by UK-based BAE Systems Plc, which has facilities in Maryland.

The defendants were acting as middle men for an "end user" in Iran in violation of both the US Arms Export Control Act and the 1995 Iranian embargo, according to the indictment, which the federal grand jury issued on Feb. 13.

Chang, a naturalized US citizen, is a fugitive believed to be living in Taiwan, prosecutors said.