New Indictment Adds Aircraft Parts to Scheme

A federal grand jury in San Diego has added more than $1 million in military aircraft parts to the list of sophisticated equipment it says was supplied to Iran by a San Diego-based ring of international arms smugglers.

In a revised indictment unsealed this week by federal prosecutors, the grand jury also named a fourth member of the Agustin family as a participant in the scheme, described by authorities as a major supply pipeline for Iran’s war against neighboring Iraq.

The latest defendant--the 10th in a case under way since July--is George Pangilinan Agustin, brother of Franklin P. Agustin, the accused chief of the smuggling ring that authorities say stole millions of dollars’ worth of F-14 jet-fighter parts. Franklin Agustin, his wife, Julie, and another brother, Edgardo, all are jailed in San Diego pending trial. George Agustin is a fugitive, known by U.S. officials to reside in the Philippines.

The new indictment charges the Agustins and three other men with 90 counts of conspiracy, theft of government property, illegal exportation of defense articles and other charges.

Three other defendants have pleaded guilty to related charges.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Philip Halpern said Wednesday that U.S. authorities are hopeful that the new government of President Corazon Aquino in the Philippines will cooperate with efforts to return George Agustin to San Diego to stand trial.

“Under the former Philippine government, no one had ever been successfully extradited, and, indeed, there was no extradition treaty,” Halpern said. “Federal authorities are certainly hopeful the situation would change under the new government.”