Ahmad Feras Diri, Export of Restricted Chemical Laboratory Equipment, Pennsylvania 2015

A UK Man Charged with Exporting Chemical Lab Equipment to Syria

A federal indictment unsealed today in Scranton, Pennsylvania, charges Ahmad Feras Diri, 42, of London, with conspiring to export laboratory equipment, including items used to detect chemical warfare agents, from the United States to Syria.

The indictment alleges that from 2003 until Nov. 20, 2012, Diri, along with his brother Mowea Diri, a citizen of Syria, d-Deri Contracting & Trading, a business located in Syria, and Harold Rinko, a U.S. citizen, conspired to export items from the United States through third-party countries to customers in Syria without the required U.S. Commerce Department licenses.

According to the indictment, the conspirators prepared false invoices that undervalued and mislabeled the goods being purchased and listed false information regarding the buyers’ identity and geographic location. The indictment alleges that the items were to be shipped from the United States to Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom, and thereafter transshipped to Syria.

The indictment charges Diri, his brother, d-Deri Contracting & Trading, and Rinko with criminal conspiracy, wire fraud, illegal export of goods, money laundering, and false statements.

On Sept. 16, 2014, Rinko pleaded guilty to the criminal conspiracy charge before U.S. District Judge Edwin M. Kosik of the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

On March 14, 2013, Diri was arrested by the Metropolitan Police in London in connection with the charges in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, and was extradited to the United States by the United Kingdom on Nov. 12, 2015. Diri appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick of the Middle District of Pennsylvania today and pleaded not guilty to the indictment.

“According to the charges in the indictment, Ahmad Feras Diri conspired with his brother and others to evade U.S. export laws and illegally send chemical laboratory equipment to Syria,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin. “These violations of U.S. export law threaten our national security, and we will continue to hold accountable those who seek to circumvent restrictions.

This extradition demonstrates HSI’s commitment to use all its resources to prevent sensitive and restricted technology from being exported to Syria through the black market,” said Special Agent in Charge John Kelleghan of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI) Philadelphia Office.

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