Armimex
Encyclopedia
Armimex was a state–owned Bulgaria
n company with a full license for export
, import
and re–export of all types of weapons, ammunition
and special products for the army
and the police
.
Armimex was established in 1992 as a specialized company for trade with special and dual–use equipment, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria. It is a public limited company
incorporating the 23 main military factories in Bulgaria as shareholders.
on March 2, 1992, the main Bulgarian arms trading company during the communist period—GIU (Main Engineering Department) -- was liquidated with a Regulation 21 by the Council of the Ministers. The GIU’s liquidation
procedures continued into 1994, without any proper resolution of its debt. On April 16, 1992 a new state-owned trading company, Armimex LLC, was established, representing the interests of the largest military enterprises in Bulgaria. The company incorporated 23 of Bulgaria’s largest defense industry companies as shareholders: VMZ, Arsenal, Optikoelektron, Beta, Samel-90, and Arkus among others. It has both a board of directors
appointed by the shareholder companies and a supervisory council appointed directly by the government. It received part of the assets of GIU, but is not its successor in the juridical sense. Armimex also became the holder of Russian production licenses given to Bulgaria.
Armimex incorporated a vast array of activities, including import, export and re-export of military and civilian products, training of foreign specialists, repair and overhaul, engineering activity in establishing enterprises and production facilities, as well as investment activity and the rendering of technical assistance.
The export list of Armimex consisted of military equipment for all services of the armed forces including armament, ammunition, armoured vehicles, engineering equipment and explosives, aiming and surveillance
equipment, communication and electronic warfare equipment, radar
equipment, naval craft, equipment, et cetera. Along with that, the export list of the company consisted of constantly increasing share of military items by NATO standards.
During the 1990s the company made some significant arms deals in Nigeria
, Yemen
, Bangladesh
and other countries.
The Israel
i plane brought down in Mombassa, Kenya in 2002 by Al Qaeda was shot at with Bulgarian SAM "Strela
". Their identification number showed that they were produced at the Armaments plant in Sopot
in 1991-93. They were exported to Yemen by Armimex in 1993. The deal amounted to about USD 8 million and it was between the Ministry of Defense of Yemen and the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense.
met with a Lithuania
n national of Russian origin, Alexander Darichev. The broker explained he was a member of a Colombian
drug cartel
, and was looking for sophisticated weapon
ry. Darichev presented himself as a broker of weapons and weapon systems with contacts in government agencies in Russia
, Lithuania, Bulgaria and elsewhere. Representing a company, Armimex, in Bulgaria that was apparently licensed to manufacture Russian weapon designs, Darichev offered a whole range of weaponry, from automatic rifles to shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. The client showed an interest in the Russian anti-aircraft missiles, including Strela 2M, Strela 3M and Igla systems, which are designed to destroy low-flying airplanes or helicopters. If the deal went through successfully, Darichev and a partner of his, Aleksandr Pogrebezskij of Lithuania, hoped also to be able to procure nuclear warheads.
During several meetings in the following months between the broker and Darichev, a complex mechanism was set up, using front companies and government officials on both sides of the Atlantic. The Lithuanians wanted the deal to look legitimate. In Florida, the agent of the Colombian narcotics traffickers set up a company called Phoenix International. In April 1996, one year after the first meeting, the US-based broker went to Russia to examine the weapon systems. In the following months, a company and several bank accounts on the Isle of Man
were opened, in order to facilitate the financial end. The value of the missile contracts totalled over $3 million; upon delivery of two sample missile systems, a first payment of $50,000 would be made. The money was then to be channelled through a US account at Prudential Securities in the name of another company, Alita Corporation.
In December 1996, Pogrebezskij instructed Prudential Securities in Florida to transfer the money to New York. Two days later, $49,800 was transferred from Prudential Securities in New York to Snoras Bank in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Lithuanians had arranged for the transport of the missiles, through the services of Angelo Zeini, the Cypriot owner of merchant ships who had offered his vessel, the M/V AI Fares, to smuggle the missile systems into the USA. Zeini would send the ship to Bulgaria to pick up the weapons systems and use false paperwork, provided by the Lithuanians, indicating that the ship would be transporting 15 forty-foot containers of machinery and general cargo to Puerto Rico
. One container, with the missile systems, would be commingled with the others in order to pass inspection at the Straits of Gibraltar.
Because Armimex could sell these kinds of weapons only to governments, Darichev and Pogrebezskij arranged to acquire an end-user certificate from the Republic of Lithuania, signed by and bearing the seal of the Lithuanian Minister of Defense. The client was also reassured that if the missile systems were to be used, they could not be traced and that the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense would issue a false letter of receipt upon delivery of the weapons in Puerto Rico.
In July 1997 the negotiations came to an end. At a meeting in a hotel in Miami, US agents arrested Pogrebezskij and Darichev. What the Lithuanians had not realized was that their US brokers were not representing Colombian narcotics traffickers: they were undercover US customs agents from Miami, exposing the first credible post–Cold War plot to smuggle tactical nuclear weapons into the USA. The customs agents had wanted to continue their investigation up to the point of actually purchasing the nuclear devices, but only the missile part of the deal had been permissible under US national security regulations.
After his arrest, Darichev cooperated with the US District Court Attorney and made monitored calls to the Bulgarian company Armimex confirming that 40 shoulder-to-air missiles were indeed waiting to be shipped to Phoenix Arms International. The US Justice Department also determined that the Lithuanian Minister of Defense had in fact signed the end-user
certificates. He later resigned. Darichev and Pogrebezskij were convicted on charges of smuggling
, money laundering
and conspiracy
. As in many such prosecutions in the United States, they were given only a four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.
In June 2003, the Sofia City Court ruled Armimex bankrupt, terminating its operation and ordering a liquidation of its assets.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n company with a full license for export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
, import
Import
The term import is derived from the conceptual meaning as to bring in the goods and services into the port of a country. The buyer of such goods and services is referred to an "importer" who is based in the country of import whereas the overseas based seller is referred to as an "exporter". Thus...
and re–export of all types of weapons, ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
and special products for the army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
and the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
.
Armimex was established in 1992 as a specialized company for trade with special and dual–use equipment, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria. It is a public limited company
Public limited company
A public limited company is a limited liability company that sells shares to the public in United Kingdom company law, in the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth jurisdictions....
incorporating the 23 main military factories in Bulgaria as shareholders.
Establishment of the company
Because of the deep political and economic changes and the abrogation of the Warsaw PactWarsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
on March 2, 1992, the main Bulgarian arms trading company during the communist period—GIU (Main Engineering Department) -- was liquidated with a Regulation 21 by the Council of the Ministers. The GIU’s liquidation
Liquidation
In law, liquidation is the process by which a company is brought to an end, and the assets and property of the company redistributed. Liquidation is also sometimes referred to as winding-up or dissolution, although dissolution technically refers to the last stage of liquidation...
procedures continued into 1994, without any proper resolution of its debt. On April 16, 1992 a new state-owned trading company, Armimex LLC, was established, representing the interests of the largest military enterprises in Bulgaria. The company incorporated 23 of Bulgaria’s largest defense industry companies as shareholders: VMZ, Arsenal, Optikoelektron, Beta, Samel-90, and Arkus among others. It has both a board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
appointed by the shareholder companies and a supervisory council appointed directly by the government. It received part of the assets of GIU, but is not its successor in the juridical sense. Armimex also became the holder of Russian production licenses given to Bulgaria.
Armimex incorporated a vast array of activities, including import, export and re-export of military and civilian products, training of foreign specialists, repair and overhaul, engineering activity in establishing enterprises and production facilities, as well as investment activity and the rendering of technical assistance.
The export list of Armimex consisted of military equipment for all services of the armed forces including armament, ammunition, armoured vehicles, engineering equipment and explosives, aiming and surveillance
Surveillance
Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner...
equipment, communication and electronic warfare equipment, radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
equipment, naval craft, equipment, et cetera. Along with that, the export list of the company consisted of constantly increasing share of military items by NATO standards.
During the 1990s the company made some significant arms deals in Nigeria
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
, Yemen
Yemen
The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
and other countries.
The Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i plane brought down in Mombassa, Kenya in 2002 by Al Qaeda was shot at with Bulgarian SAM "Strela
Strela
Strela may refer to:A series of Russian-manufactured anti-aircraft missiles* The 9K31 Strela-1, aka SA-9 Gaskin* The 9K32 Strela-2, aka SA-7 Grail* The 9K34 Strela-3, aka SA-14 Gremlin* The 9K35 Strela-10, aka SA-13 GopherOther...
". Their identification number showed that they were produced at the Armaments plant in Sopot
Sopot
Sopot is a seaside town in Eastern Pomerania on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea in northern Poland, with a population of approximately 40,000....
in 1991-93. They were exported to Yemen by Armimex in 1993. The deal amounted to about USD 8 million and it was between the Ministry of Defense of Yemen and the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense.
Sting Operation
Armimex became infamous after the successful US operation against a big illicit arms deal. In March 1995 a broker in FloridaFlorida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
met with a Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
n national of Russian origin, Alexander Darichev. The broker explained he was a member of a Colombian
Colombian people
Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...
drug cartel
Cartel
A cartel is a formal agreement among competing firms. It is a formal organization of producers and manufacturers that agree to fix prices, marketing, and production. Cartels usually occur in an oligopolistic industry, where there is a small number of sellers and usually involve homogeneous products...
, and was looking for sophisticated weapon
Weapon
A weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
ry. Darichev presented himself as a broker of weapons and weapon systems with contacts in government agencies in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, Lithuania, Bulgaria and elsewhere. Representing a company, Armimex, in Bulgaria that was apparently licensed to manufacture Russian weapon designs, Darichev offered a whole range of weaponry, from automatic rifles to shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles. The client showed an interest in the Russian anti-aircraft missiles, including Strela 2M, Strela 3M and Igla systems, which are designed to destroy low-flying airplanes or helicopters. If the deal went through successfully, Darichev and a partner of his, Aleksandr Pogrebezskij of Lithuania, hoped also to be able to procure nuclear warheads.
During several meetings in the following months between the broker and Darichev, a complex mechanism was set up, using front companies and government officials on both sides of the Atlantic. The Lithuanians wanted the deal to look legitimate. In Florida, the agent of the Colombian narcotics traffickers set up a company called Phoenix International. In April 1996, one year after the first meeting, the US-based broker went to Russia to examine the weapon systems. In the following months, a company and several bank accounts on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
were opened, in order to facilitate the financial end. The value of the missile contracts totalled over $3 million; upon delivery of two sample missile systems, a first payment of $50,000 would be made. The money was then to be channelled through a US account at Prudential Securities in the name of another company, Alita Corporation.
In December 1996, Pogrebezskij instructed Prudential Securities in Florida to transfer the money to New York. Two days later, $49,800 was transferred from Prudential Securities in New York to Snoras Bank in Vilnius, Lithuania. The Lithuanians had arranged for the transport of the missiles, through the services of Angelo Zeini, the Cypriot owner of merchant ships who had offered his vessel, the M/V AI Fares, to smuggle the missile systems into the USA. Zeini would send the ship to Bulgaria to pick up the weapons systems and use false paperwork, provided by the Lithuanians, indicating that the ship would be transporting 15 forty-foot containers of machinery and general cargo to Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
. One container, with the missile systems, would be commingled with the others in order to pass inspection at the Straits of Gibraltar.
Because Armimex could sell these kinds of weapons only to governments, Darichev and Pogrebezskij arranged to acquire an end-user certificate from the Republic of Lithuania, signed by and bearing the seal of the Lithuanian Minister of Defense. The client was also reassured that if the missile systems were to be used, they could not be traced and that the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense would issue a false letter of receipt upon delivery of the weapons in Puerto Rico.
In July 1997 the negotiations came to an end. At a meeting in a hotel in Miami, US agents arrested Pogrebezskij and Darichev. What the Lithuanians had not realized was that their US brokers were not representing Colombian narcotics traffickers: they were undercover US customs agents from Miami, exposing the first credible post–Cold War plot to smuggle tactical nuclear weapons into the USA. The customs agents had wanted to continue their investigation up to the point of actually purchasing the nuclear devices, but only the missile part of the deal had been permissible under US national security regulations.
After his arrest, Darichev cooperated with the US District Court Attorney and made monitored calls to the Bulgarian company Armimex confirming that 40 shoulder-to-air missiles were indeed waiting to be shipped to Phoenix Arms International. The US Justice Department also determined that the Lithuanian Minister of Defense had in fact signed the end-user
End-user
Economics and commerce define an end user as the person who uses a product. The end user or consumer may differ from the person who purchases the product...
certificates. He later resigned. Darichev and Pogrebezskij were convicted on charges of smuggling
Smuggling
Smuggling is the clandestine transportation of goods or persons, such as out of a building, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations.There are various motivations to smuggle...
, money laundering
Money laundering
Money laundering is the process of disguising illegal sources of money so that it looks like it came from legal sources. The methods by which money may be laundered are varied and can range in sophistication. Many regulatory and governmental authorities quote estimates each year for the amount...
and conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
. As in many such prosecutions in the United States, they were given only a four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.
In June 2003, the Sofia City Court ruled Armimex bankrupt, terminating its operation and ordering a liquidation of its assets.