NY terrorism case: Indian found guilty of supporting Hezbollah

Manhattan federal court convicts Patrick Nayyar on five counts

NEW YORK: Patrick Nayyar, an Indian citizen who had been residing illegally in the United States, was found guilty on Tuesday in a Manhattan federal court of five counts related to material support he attempted to provide to Hezbollah. Nayyar  was convicted after a seven-day jury trial.

Between July 2009 and September 2009, Nayyar and his co-conspirator, Conrad Mulholland, agreed to provide weapons, ammunition, and vehicles to Hezbollah, a US designated terrorist organisation, according to the superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court and the evidence presented at trial.

During a series of meetings with a confidential informant working with the FBI, who represented himself as able to deliver materials to Hezbollah, Nayyar and Mulholland agreed to sell guns, ammunition, vehicles, bulletproof vests, and night vision goggles to the confidential informant. During these meetings, Nayyar and Mulholland provided the confidential informant with a handgun, a box of ammunition, and a pick-up truck, believing that he would deliver the items to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Nayyar was convicted on five counts: conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; attempting to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiring to make or receive a contribution of funds, goods, or services to, and for the benefit of, Hezbollah; attempting to make a contribution of funds, goods, or services to, and for the benefit of, Hezbollah; and conspiring to traffic in firearms and ammunition.

In total, Nayyar faces a maximum sentence of 75 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced by a judge on September 25, 2012. Nayyar’s co-conspirator, Mulholland, who is not a citizen of the US, left the country before charges were filed and remains at large. The charges against Mulholland are pending, and he is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2012.