Apr 24, 2007 8:57 pm US/Eastern

Indonesians Sentenced For Baltimore Gun Scheme

(AP) BALTIMORE Two Indonesian citizens were sentenced to more than a year in prison Tuesday for their role in a conspiracy to smuggle sophisticated military devices to the Indonesian military, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake sentenced Reinhard Rusli, 35, and Helmi Soedirdja, 33, to a year and a day in federal prison after the two men pleaded guilty to attempting to illegally export night vision devices and money laundering.

They will be deported after they complete their sentences, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said the men sent $2,950 from Indonesia to the United States to purchase the night vision equipment and a holographic weapons sight, which contain military technology that is prohibited from export without State Department authorization.

Co-defendant Haji Subandi, 70, a citizen of the Republic of Indonesia, pleaded guilty on March 8 and faces up to 10 years for attempted exportation of arms and munitions. He is scheduled to be sentenced June 15.

The defendants are among a number facing charges in the case.

In March, an Indonesian arms dealer pleaded guilty to conspiring to export guns, surface-to-air missiles and other military hardware to a terrorist group known as the Tamil Tigers.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since the 1970s for a separate state on the Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka.

The group was added to the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997. The designation bars the group from raising money, obtaining weaponry or lobbying for support in the United States.

The Associated Press