Three naturalized U.S. citizens, Dan Tran Dang, Liem Duc Huynh, and George Ngoc Bui were recently indicted and charged with conspiracy to export 55 third generation military night vision goggles to Vietnam without a license. According to the indictment, the men purchased ITT AN/PVS-7 night vision goggles from Win-Tron Electronics, an electronics wholesaler principally specializing in marine electronics. The head straps and helmet mounts were removed and shipped to defendant Bui in Vietnam. The remaining parts of the night vision were then carried by Huynh and Dang in their luggage on trips to Vietnam.

The three men were caught in large measure because of Win-Tron Electronics and what appears to have been its careful attention to export compliance issues. According to a story in the Tulsa World, Win-Tron tipped off the authorities when it became suspicious of the purchases by the three men. The defendants claimed to have a business called Protective Security, and yet the address for Protective Security turned out to be a private residence. This apparently led Win-Tron to suspect that Protective Security had no use for a large volume of night vision goggles and suggested that the goggles might be instead destined for export, likely to the defendants’ country of origin.

Knowing your customer means knowing where your customer lives; and if a business has a residential address, this certainly should be considered a red flag.

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