Terror suspect in new hospital emergency
A British businessman charged with attempting to sell anti-aircraft missiles to terrorists in the United States has undergone emergency surgery for the second time in a month, it emerged tonight.
Hemant Lakhani, 69, from Hendon, north west London, was rushed to hospital from his prison cell with a double hernia.
He underwent surgery and is now recovering in a local New Jersey hospital, his lawyer Henry Klingeman said.
The incident has delayed his trial for a second time and it is now not expected to resume until March.
Last month Lakhani was taken ill with severe artery blockage and had a pacemaker fitted during heart surgery to repair the damage.
Mr Klingeman said the two procedures were unrelated.
“He has a variety of conditions and this is just one of them,” he added.
The Indian-born clothing merchant was arrested in August 2003 at a hotel overlooking Newark Airport, moments after allegedly presenting a single “sample” missile to the FBI informant, called Air Haji.
He told the undercover agent that rockets he was selling could be used to shoot down 10 to 15 airliners simultaneously on the second anniversary of the September 11 terrorist outrage.
The jury has been shown secretly-taped footage of the alleged incident.
Lakhani was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to terrorists, one count of unlawful brokering of foreign defence articles, two counts of money laundering and one count of attempting to import merchandise into the US by means of false statements.
He denies the accusations and rejects further charges that he promised to sell a radioactive “dirty bomb“.
Lakhani claims he is the victim of an entrapment operation by American, British and Russian intelligence agencies, under pressure to catch terror suspects following the 9/11 attacks.
The trial began on January 4 at New Jersey District Court and was originally scheduled to last 10 weeks.
Lakhani was taken ill over the weekend and Mr Klingeman said he did not expect him to be back in court before March 3.
