British man arraigned in U.S. for illicit exports to Syria

Ahmad Feras Diri of London was arraigned Friday in the United States on charges that he allegedly conspired to illegally export U.S. chemical laboratory equipment to Syria.

   Ahmad Feras Diri of London was arraigned Friday in the United States on charges that he allegedly conspired to illegally export laboratory equipment, including items used to detect chemical warfare agents, from the United States to Syria, the Justice Department said.
   The indictment was returned by a Scranton, Pa. grand jury on Nov. 20, 2012, and charges Diri; Mowea Diri, Ahmad’s brother and a Syrian citizen; d-Deri Contracting & Trading, a Syrian business; and Harold Rinko, a U.S. citizen, with criminal conspiracy, wire fraud, illegal export of goods, money laundering and false statements.  
   On Sept. 16, 2014, Rinko pleaded guilty to the criminal conspiracy charge before a court in Middle District of Pennsylvania.
   On March 14, 2013, Diri was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London in connection with the charges in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and was extradited to the United States by the U.K. government on Nov. 12, 2015. Diri appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick of the Middle District of Pennsylvania and pleaded not guilty to the indictment, according to the Justice Department.  
   The indictment alleges that from 2003 to Nov. 20, 2012, the three men conspired to export items from the United States through third-party countries to customers in Syria without the required U.S. Commerce Department licenses. 
   According to the indictment, the three men prepared “false invoices that undervalued and mislabeled the goods being purchased and listed false information regarding the buyers’ identity and geographic location.” The indictment also alleges the equipment was to be shipped from the United States to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom, and then transshipped to Syria.