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Ex-Marine Jailed Over Smuggling Arms To Iran
9:21pm Tuesday October 05, 2010
Lorna Blount
A former Royal Marine has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for attempting to export telescopic sniper sights to Iran for sale.
The Schmidt and Bender sights similar to this were to be sold for a profit of £60,000
Andrew Faulkner of Spalding, Lincolnshire, was arrested after a shipment of 100 sights was intercepted at Heathrow airport in February last year. The 42-year-old, who was due to be paid around £10,000 for his role, pleaded guilty to being involved in the exportation of controlled goods.
In sentencing at Southwark Crown Court Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said: "You put your own financial needs ahead of your responsibilities to your past and future colleagues in the Armed Forces." The high-spec German-manufactured Schmidt and Bender sights, purchased for over £100,000 were due to be sold on for a profit of nearly £60,000.
The court heard similar items, not linked to Faulkner, had been found in an arms cache discovered in 2007 by allied forces in Basra, Iraq. Judge Loraine-Smith told Faulkner: "You accepted the equipment might have been used by militia fighting armed forces in the Middle East."
Faulkner, who has worked as a security consultant and bodyguard since leaving the Marines, linked up with Italian Alessandro Bon after meeting him while working in Dubai. The former marine initially denied being aware that the consignment, which had been labelled as hunting rifle scopes, was destined for Iran, via Dubai.
But he later admitted knowledge in a police interview after email correspondence was uncovered. Prosecutor Mr Hewitt said Faulkner did not have a licence to export the scopes, commonly used in the military and by police marksmen. Their distribution is restricted to protect troops from militia attacks.
In the past 10 years, Faulkner has worked as a security consultant in countries including Afghanistan and Iraq. He has also acted as a bodyguard for BBC staff reporting from the front line as well as trading in military equipment for a "number of years".
