A British man has been arrested by security services in the US after he allegedly smuggled a surface-to-air missile into the US and attempted to sell it to what he believed to be an Islamic extremist.

The accused, who it is alleged to be an arms dealer, has been named in media reports as Hekmat Lakhani – an Indian resident in London.

He was arrested at a hotel in Newark, New Jersey, last night after he attempted to sell a shoulder-held Russian-made Igla missile to an FBI agent posing as an Islamic militant.

The Igla missile is a robust and simple to deploy anti-aircraft weapons system used originally by the Soviet military. It has since been used to bring down aircraft in Chechnya and in Kenya.

Media reports have suggested that the missile could have been intended for use against President Bush's jet, Airforce One. However, this has been denied by FBI sources.

Cold War enmities forgotten, Russian, US and British worked closely together in sharing intelligence and tracking the movements of the accused and the missile from Russia, through Britain and into US territory.

He, and two other people who were arrested, are expected to appear in a New Jersey court today. The the precise nature of the charges is not yet clear.

(gmcg)