'Arms trafficking ring with Iran busted'
Probe not possible with proposed wiretap limits, police say
03 March, 14:40
(ANSA) - Milan, March 3 - Police on Wednesday broke up an
organization allegedly seeking to violate an international arms
embargo against Iran, in an operation which investigators said
would not have been possible if proposed limits on wiretapping
currently before parliament were in effect.
The investigation led to the the arrest of seven people
and warrants issued against two others for allegedly seeking to
export to Iran not only weapons but also 'dual use' materials
and systems, those which can be converted from civilian to
military use.
Police said those arrested included five Italians and two
Iranians, who are believed to belong to Iranian intelligence,
while the two at large were Iranian.In Tehran, an Iranian foreign ministry official told ANSA that "for the moment Iran has nothing to say" about the arrests.
Milan assistant prosecutor Armando Spataro told the press that "this eight-month investigation was carried out using a vast number of wiretaps and intercepting email and SMS communication. This would not have been possible based the conditions set in the bill which has been passed by the House and is currently under discussion in the Senate".
"Under the proposed rules we would not have been able to gather sufficient evidence to justify the extension of the wiretaps," the assistant prosecutor explained. Spataro added that the investigation saw collaboration between several law enforcement agencies.
The suspected Iranian agents were named as Nejad Hamid Masoumi, 51, a journalist accredited to the Rome foreign press association as a correspondent for Iranian TV; and Ali Damirchiloo, 55, who was arrested in Turin.
The Iranians who escaped arrest were named as Hamir Reza and Bakhtiyari Homayoun.
Among the Italians arrested was Alessandro Bon, 43, a Vittorio Veneto native who lives in Monza and who is believed to have orchestrated the illegal trafficking through a Varese-based company, Antares.
Also arrested were Bon's girlfriend Danila Maffei, 40; Bon's business partner Arnaldo La Scala, 43, who is also a lawyer in Turin; Guglielmo Savi, 56, the head of a telecommunications company, Sirio SrL; and Raffaele Rossi Patriarca, who investigators said travelled to Iran to establish contacts with the Iranian military interested in arms deals.
The government of Premier Silvio Berlusconi used a confidence vote last June to push through the House a bill to curb the use of wiretaps.
The government argued the measure is necessary to defend the privacy of citizens whose private conversations with suspects targeted by probes have, in recent years, often ended up in the press.
Another argument for the reform - a 2008 campaign promise by Berlusconi - is that large amounts of funds are wasted on inconsequential wire taps, at a time when the government is trying to curb spending.
The measure would restrict the use of wiretaps to investigate serious crimes: mafia, terrorism, corruption of public officials and accepting kickbacks, human trafficking, child pornography, loan sharking and economic and fiscal crimes like insider trading.
In general, wiretaps would not be allowed to investigate crimes which carry sentences of less than five years. Other changes in the bill included requiring wiretaps be authorised by a panel of magistrates, compared to only one at present, imposing a 60-day limit on wiretaps and curbing the amount of funds which can be used to carry them out.
photo: Armando Spataro
