US sentences Pakistani man to 33 months in jail for smuggling military tech

Washington: A 71-year-old Pakistani national in the United States has been sentenced to 33 months in prison for trying to smuggle sensitive military technology to the Pakistan Army.

A US court in Arizona passed the sentence on Syed Vaqar Ashraf of Lahore on Thursday, after he pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to export defence controlled items without a license, the US Department of Justice said.

Federal prosecutors alleged Ashraf attempted to procure gyroscopes and illegally ship them to Pakistan so they could be used by the Pakistani military.

Ashraf then travelled to Belgium to inspect the products and arrange for their final transport to Pakistan.

He was arrested on August 26, 2014, by the Belgium Federal Police at the request of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, who had been conducting an undercover investigation of his activities.