Customs agents in Long Beach, California, caught naturalized citizen Mozaffar Khazaee allegedly attempting to send Iran “technical manuals, specification sheets, and other proprietary material” on an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
He was arrested and January 21st charged with “two counts of interstate transportation of stolen property.”
According the Los Angeles Times, 59-year-old Khazaee was born in Iran but became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1991; he continued to hold Iranian citizenship, as well. He spent a number of years working as an “engineer with military jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney.”
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents said Khazaee was sending the “thousands of documents” to Iran in boxes marked “House Hold Goods.”
In total, law enforcement officials found “44 boxes of material that contained technical data on military engines and the largest weapons program in history: the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter” (JSF).
DHS special agent Breanne Chavez said, “The documents contained language regarding the technical specifications of the JSF engine program, as well as diagrams, blueprints, and other documentation relating to the inner workings of the jet’s engine.”
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