This blog reported in detail back in March of this year on the prosecution of Henderson Chua, a Philippine citizen, arising from his importation of military drone parts into the United States. Based on information in the indictment, it seemed to me that there were significant holes in the government’s case. Even so, and as is often the case, it is reported that Chua is expected to plead guilty tomorrow to the government’s charges.

As I noted in the original post, after Mr. Chua listed the parts on eBay, a government sting was conducted with U.S. agents pretending to be buyers for the parts. Initially, the government agents seemed to think, incorrectly, that the permanent import of the parts was illegal, which would not be the case because they were not listed on the United States Munitions Import List So the agents changed the deal and told Chua that the parts were for re-export to Russia, which would have required a license both for the temporary import into the United States and for the permanent export to Russia. Chua told them that he couldn’t sell them the items for export from the United States and had the agents sign an agreement not to export the items. From my point of view, the prosecution was going to have a hard time establishing that Chua had requisite criminal intent.

The anticipated guilty plea was reported on by DC political blog TPM Muckracker, which contained this howler about the case:

The Raven is listed on the U.S. munitions list as a defensive item, and U.S. law forbids people from buying and selling defense equipment without permission from the government.

Uh, no. U.S. law only forbids export of such equipment without permission. I can buy all the Category VIII(h) military aircraft parts I want without a license as long as they stay here in the United States. I guess it’s easier for a reporter simply to make things up than to, say, fire up Google in their web browser or, imagine this, to call an expert.

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Copyright © 2011 Clif Burns. All Rights Reserved.
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