Iranian American woman arrested in Los Angeles for alleged arms trafficking | Los Angeles
A California woman was arrested at Los Angeles international airport for allegedly smuggling weapons to contacts in Africa, including Sudan, on behalf of the Iranian government.
Shamim Mafi, 44, of Woodland Hills, was taken into custody by federal agents Saturday night, according to the lead federal prosecutor in Los Angeles.
Bill Essayli, the assistant U.S. attorney for the central district of California, wrote that Mafi was indicted on suspicion of “intermediating the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses and millions of manufactured bullets.” to mail In X.
Mafi, an Iranian citizen, has been a legal permanent resident of the United States since 2016. Mafi is based in the United States but travels frequently to Iran, Türkiye and Oman. based on According to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News.
The complaint against Mafi states that he lived in Istanbul, Türkiye, between 2013 and 2016. In an interview with federal officials, Mafi said her first husband was an officer in Iran’s ministry of intelligence and security, the intelligence arm of the Iranian government.
According to records obtained during the authorized search, Mafi and a collaborator whose name is not mentioned in court documents allegedly mediated the arms trade through their company Atlas International. According to the complaint, the illegal gun trade allegedly took place in various locations, including California.
In one such deal, Mafi allegedly facilitated the sale of Iranian-made drones by the Iranian government to the Sudanese defense ministry; the value of this contract exceeded 60 million euros. Mafi himself reportedly won a €6 million payout after the incident:[coordinating] “Sudan delegation’s trip to Iran”.
Sudan has been fighting a civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians since 2023. displaced There are more than 13 million people in the region.
According to the Los Angeles Times, photos posted on social media include Mafi posing with guns in a warehouse in Türkiye and enjoying a beach day in California. reported.
If convicted, Mafi faces up to 20 years in federal prison. He is expected to make his first appearance in U.S. district court in Los Angeles on Monday.
