U.S. Ex-Contractor Indicted For Exporting Military Blueprints To India

WASHINGTON: A former U.S. defence contractor, owner of two New Jersey-based firms, has been indicted by a U.S. court on charges of illegally exporting to India blueprints of the hi-tech military equipment and their parts.

Hannah Robert, 49, of North Brunswick, New Jersey is currently under home detention pending trial.

She has been charged in a superseding indictment with one count of violating the Arms Export Control Act, one count of conspiracy to violate the act and four counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

According to court documents, Ms. Robert, founder, owner, and president of One Source USA, used the computer of a local church to transfer technical drawings of military hardware parts.

The exported technical drawings include parts used in the torpedo systems for nuclear submarines, military attack helicopters, and F-15 fighter aircraft, the Department of Justice said.

Ms. Robert-owned a One Source company in India (One Source India) along with a public relations firm. She also owned Caldwell Components based in New Jersey too.

Ms. Robert allegedly transmitted export-controlled technical data to a PR firm in India so that they could submit bids to foreigners, including those in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to supply them or their foreign customers with defence hardware items and spare parts.

Neither Ms. Robert nor the PR firm obtained approval from the U.S. Department of State for this conduct, the Justice Department said.

If found guilty Ms. Robert will face a fine of $250,000 and jail up to 20 years.

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