A British-based Gujarati businessman has gone on trial in the US for allegedly plotting terrorist activity. Hemant Lakhani, who was arrested in a high-profile FBI sting operation in August 2003, denies the charges, saying that he is only guilty of ‘‘stupidity and greed’’. At the time of his arrest, President Bush had announced: ‘‘We got a significant arms dealer and a dangerous terrorist. This is a major step in the global war against terrorism.’’The London businessman was arrested by the FBI as a supplier of Soviet-made arms. He is alleged to have offered to supply anti-aircraft missiles and guns, tanks and tons of plastic explosives to an undercover FBI agent who was posing as a Somali-born Islamic terrorist. He was arrested in a hotel in Newark, New Jersey, after meeting the supposed terrorist who only used the name ‘Haji’. Lakhani also allegedly claimed that he could obtain a radioactive ‘dirty bomb.’ FBI agents who taped his conversation with ‘Haji’ allegedly heard him make anti-American statements. Now, however, protesting his innocence, Lakhani says: ‘‘I am not a terrorist and not associated with any terrorist groups. If I am guilty of anything it is stupidity and greed. All I wanted to do was to make money but I got myself into something that I don’t know much about.’’Lakhani said admitted to making the statements attributed to him, he said he didn’t mean them. ‘‘Haji made me say those bad things. He had a way of opening a conversation for me and expecting me to say bad words.’’As the trial opens in New Jersey, his lawyer is expected to argue that Lakhani, who has no criminal record or known ties to terrorism, was a victim of entrapment of American agents. But if he is found guilty, the charges could mean 25 years in prison. Lakhani has spent 16 months in jail awaiting trial. His once jet-black hair has turned white and his formerly plump visage now looks gaunt.It is a far cry from the image of the successful Indian businessman who made a fortune in Britain and moved in high social circles. Lakhani, lived in Hendon, north London, with his wife, Kusum. He was even introduced to Prince Charles at a polo match in Windsor and when Kusum launched a community centre in Hendon,it was opened by the late Princess Diana.
