Washington, Oct 25 : A Pakistani national was recently sentenced to 40 years in prison on charges related to transporting Iranian-made advanced conventional weapons, the United States Justice Department has announced.

The announcement was made on Thursday by US Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Eisenberg, US Attorney Lindsey Halligan for the Eastern District of Virginia, Assistant Director Donald M. Holstead of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Counterterrorism Division, and Assistant Director in Charge Darren B. Cox of the FBI Washington Field Office following sentencing by US District Judge David J. Novak.

According to the statement released by the Justice Department, a federal jury convicted Muhammad Pahlawan on June 5 of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists as well as to Iran's weapons of mass destruction programme. He was also found guilty of offering material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' weapons of mass destruction programme, while conspiring to and transporting explosive devices to the Houthis, knowing those explosives would be used to cause harm and threatening his crew.

Citing court records and evidence presented at trial, the statement added that on the night of January 11, 2024, US Central Command Navy forces operating from the USS LEWIS B. PULLER, including Navy SEALs and members of the US Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East, boarded an unflagged dhow, a small vessel, in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Somalia. The US boarding team encountered 14 individual mariners on the vessel, including Pahlawan.

'During a search of the dhow, the US boarding team located and seized Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry, including ballistic missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components, and a warhead. The type of weaponry found aboard the dhow is consistent with the weaponry used by the Houthi rebel forces during the time of the charged conspiracy against merchant ships and US military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel," the Justice Department stated.

The US authorities mentioned that during the interdiction, Pahlawan lied to the boarding team, instructed other crewmembers to lie, and eventually threatened the lives of the crew members and their families. It mentioned that two Navy SEALs ' Christopher Chambers and Nathan Gage Ingram ' lost their lives during the maritime interception operation.

"Pahlawan's January 2024 trip was part of a larger operation. From in or around August 2023 through in or around January 2024, Pahlawan worked with two Iranian brothers, Shahab Mir'kazei (Shahab), and Yunus Mir'kazei (Yunus), affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to smuggle materials from Iran to other recipients, including the Houthi rebel forces in Yemen,' the statement detailed.

/IANS