Three held in North America over helicopter sales to Iraq
Iraq, Military, 7/24/1997

Three men, including a retired US army colonel, were arrested and charged with trying to sell military helicopters adapted for spraying chemicals to Iraq, authorities said.

The 34 helicopters, valued at about 12.5 million US dollars, were at a warehouse in Canada and were still fitted with gun mounts and missile firing mechanisms, said Ken Prager, special agent in charge of the Customs Office in Miami.

They were recently modified for "spraying pesticides," he said.

Despite US sanctions imposed after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Iraq's military is believed to retain a chemical weapons program and has used such weapons against Iranian forces and rebel Kurds throughout the 1980s.

"We were led to believe that the Iraqis had ordered 16 helicopters to be equipped with pesticide spraying capabilities," Prager said.

Iraq's military was badly mauled in the 1991 Gulf war, but much remains in place. Recent reports by US military officials said Saddam Hussien has rebuilt much of his scaled-down army, although its capabilities have been reduced.

Retired Col. Robert Fairchild, 53, of Arkansas, and Donald Proven, 56, a former Marine from Chicago, were held under the arms export control act and conspiracy charges.

George Finlay, 47, who owned the helicopters, was arrested on similar charges by the Mounties in Bloomfield, Canada. They also seized the 34 Bell OH-58A helicopters, designed for US fast-reaction forces.

The deal was set up through an elaborate US customs "sting" operation. Customs agents were in contact with Fairchild and Proven, who believed the helicopters were going to Iraq through buyers in Egypt and Lebanon.

The men devised a scheme to supply false documents to the US State Department, indicating the helicopters were destined for an aviation company in the Philippines, a front established for the illegal sale, Prager said.

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