Foreign agents captured smuggling Iranian missiles; two hero Navy SEALS tragically lost

RICHMOND, VA - Four men carrying Pakistani identification were captured by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Somalia in the Arabian Sea in January and have been charged in U.S. District Court with the transportation of suspected Iranian weapons. Two U.S. Navy SEALS were lost at sea during the operation that brought the four defendants to justice.

NPR reported Thursday that the unsealed criminal complaint revealed the men were transporting missile components that are suspected to be Iranian-made and match the weaponry employed by Houthi terrorists in Yemen in attacks against international shipping. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a press release, "The flow of missiles and other advanced weaponry from Iran to Houthi rebel forces in Yemen threatens the people and interests of America and our partners in the region."

According to the report, Muhammad Pahlawan is charged with attempting to smuggle the missile components that include a warhead which the government alleges he knew would be deployed by the Houthi terrorists against ships in the Red Sea. Pahlawan and his three codefendants are also charged with providing false information to U.S. Coast Guard officers who searched their vessel.

“As charged, Mr. Pahlawan attempted to smuggle advanced missile components, including a warhead, to Houthi rebels for use against cargo ships and U.S. vessels sailing across the Horn of Africa,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division in a Department of Justice press release. “The Justice Department, together with U.S. agency partners, is working tirelessly to deny malign actors the means to threaten international shipping and imperil the lives of our men and women in uniform.”

Court records indicated that the naval vessel USS LEWIS B. PULLER, an expeditionary mobile base vessel, interdicted a small unflagged craft known as a "dhow," and encountered 14 sailors aboard.

Navy SEALS came alongside in a Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat and began to board when tragically Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers slipped between the two hulls due to heavy seas. As he fell, Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram jumped in to rescue him.

Neither SEAL survived.

"Two Navy SEALs tragically lost their lives in the operation that thwarted the defendants charged today from allegedly smuggling Iranian-made weapons that the Houthis could have used to target American forces and threaten freedom of navigation and a vital artery for commerce," Monaco said.

Coast Guard and Naval officers searched the vessel and seized "what is believed to be Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry," the statement said. 

The DOJ wrote, "According to court records, preliminary analysis of the advanced conventional weaponry indicates that it includes critical components for medium range ballistic missiles (MRBM) and anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM), to include a warhead and propulsion and guidance components. The type of weaponry found aboard the dhow is allegedly consistent with the weaponry used by the Houthi rebel forces in recent attacks on merchant ships and U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden."

Because the vessel or "dhow" was unflagged and U.S. Navy forces were conducting a legal "flag verification" the affidavit from prosecutors obtained by NPR said the small vessel was deemed a "vessel without nationality" and is therefore subject to U.S. laws. The affidavit also stated that the sailors admitted they had departed from Iran and at least one of them was in communication via satellite phone with a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Pahlawan could face up to 20 years in a U.S. federal prison if convicted of unlawfully transporting a warhead, and all four defendants could see a maximum of five years in prison if convicted of the false statements offense per the DOJ.