Reports came out from U.S. prosecutors that an engineer for a major U.S. defense contractor tried to smuggle thousands of secret documents and blueprints on F-35 stealth fighters to Iran.
Dual Iranian-American citizen, Mozaffar Khazaee, was arrested during travel last week. He was intercepted at a layover in Germany, on his way to his final destination in his home country of Iran.
Court documents say engineer Khazaee worked at several different defense contractors. Court documents say the most recent employer was based in Connecticut that built F-22 Raptor’s F-119 engines.
Khazaee had shipped 44 boxes labeled “Household Goods” that were filled with thousands of pages in dozens of binders related to the JSF [F-35 Joint Strike Fighter] program.
A court affidavit shows Khazaee has traveled to Iran five times in the last seven years. The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program is the most expensive defense program in history, and is estimated to cost $400 billion.
At this time Khazaee is accused of interstate transport of stolen property of the value of $5,000 or more. If convicted he could pay a fine or up to 10 years in prison.
