South Florida called 'smuggler's supermarket' for all types of contraband [View All]

[Judi Lynn]

South Florida called 'smuggler's supermarket' for all types of contraband

By Ann W. O'Neill
Staff Writer
Posted September 26 2003

The middle-aged Iranian said he'd come to buy medical supplies and chemical protection equipment, stepping off a flight from London last Thursday afternoon and passing through customs at Miami International Airport.

In fact, authorities say, Serzhik Avassapian, 40, had come to illegally buy restricted fighter jet parts and, if all went well, perhaps a few helicopters. The idea, he told an undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, was to buy mothballed F-14 Tomcat fighter jet parts here and export them to Iran through Italy.

Why did Avassapian come shopping here for mothballed jet parts? For the same reasons pirates, rum-runners, drug smugglers and others who deal in contraband always have found South Florida an attractive place to do business, experts say.

"South Florida has evolved into a smuggler's supermarket," said Kendall Coffey, a former Miami U.S. Attorney now in private practice. "It doesn't get any wilder than South Florida. I don't think you could name a form of contraband for which this is not a significant marketplace."

And so, as past prosecutions have shown, everything from Stinger missiles to cargo planes can be bought here for a price. (snip/...)

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