Supplier: Nithish Jaitha

Arrested in November 2007 in connection with a plot to export restricted military equipment, including aircraft components and equipment, from the United States via the United Kingdom, Romania, and Hong Kong to Iran in violation of a 1993 UK embargo on military exports to Iran; charged, along with co-defendants Mohsen Akhavan Nik and Mohammad Akhavan Nik (see separate entity records), with two counts of conspiring to evade the prohibition on the export of goods contrary to the UK Criminal Law Act 1977; between December 2005 and August 2007, asked by the Niks to source parts from the United States for delivery to Iran; restricted items requested by Iranian contacts included a range of parts required for military jets, including liquid oxygen cylinders, military radios and transceivers, helicopter engine transmissions and electric drive motors to power 20mm 'Gatling type' cannons; items were sourced in the United States (including on eBay), often first shipped to a Florida address set up by the Niks, then typically exported with misleading descriptions to Iran via the UK, Romania or Hong Kong, in order to circumvent U.S. export controls; even after interceptions of their liquid oxygen converter shipments by Customs authorities in the United States, United Kingdom and Romania, the Niks and Jaitha continued to order parts and ship them to Iran by using false identities and front companies; the Niks reportedly also used their companies Nix Aviation Ltd and Vanero Ltd to buy parts from Oxford-based Aerospace Support International (ASI), in which Jaitha was a partner; by the time of his arrest, Jaitha had received over £200,000 for aircraft parts that had been sent to Iran; on June 4, 2009, after a trial at Southwark Crown Court, Jaitha was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison on count one and one-and-a-half years on count two, to run concurrently; born on September 2, 1965.