By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
A Palestinian man pleaded guilty Thursday in Miami in a plot to acquire and transport stolen military weapons in what turned out to be an FBI sting.
Abdalaziz Aziz Hamayel, 23, of the West Bank, pleaded guilty to trying to buy from an undercover agent what he thought were stolen M-16s, AK-47s and explosive materials, including hand grenades and improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced.
Sentencing is set for Feb. 22. Another conspirator in the case still faces trial, authorities said.
Authorities said were told by a confidential source in April 2009 that the two men wanted to purchase large quantities of automatic weapons. The source then introduced them to an undercover agent who posed as a weapons supplier.
At their first meeting with the undercover agent the following month, the men requested 200 to 300 fully-automatic assault rifles that they planned to ship out of the country, authorities charged. They also asked for grenades and homemade bombs with remote detonation capabilities.
