Walnut man sentenced to 4 years in prison for smuggling rifle scopes and tactical gear to Syrian rebel groups

A federal judge sentenced a Walnut man to nearly four years in prison for a scheme to smuggle rifle scopes and tactical gear into Syria and Turkey to supply rebel groups, federal prosecutors announced Thursday, Dec. 20.

Prosecutors argued that  Rasheed Al Jijakli, 57, of Walnut, had smuggled rifle scopes, night-vision rifle scopes, laser boresighters, flashlights, a digital monocular, radios and a bulletproof vest to Ahrar Al-Sham and other armed rebel groups engaged in the civil war against the Syrian government.

Jijakli, who is a chief executive officer of Palmyra Corporation, an Orange County-based check cashing agency, also directed the deposit of $17,000 of his company’s funds to purchase tactical gear intended for Syrian rebels, federal court documents said.

Jijakli pleaded guilty in August to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a law intended give the president the authority “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States,” during a declared national emergency.

At the time of Jijakli’s smuggling efforts, the U.S. government had used the law to level trade sanctions against Syria, which was designed “in part, to prevent private citizens from exacerbating a civil war,” court documents said.

According to court documents, Jijakli flew from Los Angeles to Istanbul, Turkey on two separate occasions in 2012 to smuggle the tactical gear. During one of his trips, Jijakli met with a member of the Ahrar Al-Sham, an armed Syrian rebel group, to hand over the gear, court documents said. Jijakli had also given the gear to other rebel groups in Syria and Turkey.

Jijakli and his conspirators willfully neglected to obtain licensing or permission from the U.S. government to export the tactical gear, prosecutors said in court documents

The members of the rebel groups who Jijakli worked with were not named in court documents.

Jijakli’s defense attorney, Katherine Corrigan was not immediately available for comment.