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Italy Breaks Up Ring Sending Arms to Iran

   Police  arrest  five  Italians  and  two Iranians, says anti-terrorism
   prosecutor Armando Spataro

   VOA News 03 March 2010
   Milan-based  anti-terrorism prosecutor Armando Spataro gestures during
   a press conference in Milan, Italy, 3 Mar 2010

Photo: AP

   Milan-based  anti-terrorism prosecutor Armando Spataro gestures during
   a press conference in Milan, Italy, 3 Mar 2010

   Italian  authorities  say  they have dismantled an arms smuggling ring
   that was sending weapons to Iran.
   Anti-terrorism  prosecutor  Armando Spataro said Wednesday police have
   arrested  five  Italians  and  two  Iranians. Police believe two other
   Iranian suspects have fled the country.
   Officials said the men had been smuggling arms and other material that
   could  be converted into weapons into Iran through London, Romania and
   the United Arab Emirates.
   Authorities  say  they  learned  of  the  smuggling  operations  after
   officials in London seized a shipment of optical equipment.
   Spataro  said all four Iranians are suspected members of the country's
   secret  service,  and  that  one  had been working as a journalist for
   Iranian state television.

   Arms  exports  to  Iran are strictly controlled under a United Nations
   embargo.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

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