Courtesy of Asian Journal
TAMPA – A Filipino man who was caught selling a US Military spy plane on Ebay was sentenced last week. As part of a plea agreement, a Tampa Federal judge sentenced Henson Chua of Manila, Philippines to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay a $13,000 fine. Chua plead guilty earlier this year for violating the Arms Export Control Act, according to reports. He had faced 20-year sentence in federal prison.
According to the US Attorney’s office, Chua was caught selling a US military spy plane called the RQ-11B Raven on Ebay. The Raven is an unmanned aircraft used to provide situation awareness and target information for the US Military in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the US Air Force. The plane has a wingspan of 4.5 feet and weighs less than five pounds.
Chua received the Raven in the Philippines before transporting it to the US in three different packages. He then listed the Raven for sale on the auction website Ebay for $13,000 on May of last year. By then, military officials had already been tipped off and a Department of Homeland Security undercover investigator – posing as a buyer – purchased the item and made contact with Chua.
After recovering the Raven, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE/HSI) officers arrested Chua in February in Los Angeles and charged him with violations of the Arms Export Control Act and smuggling.
It is still unknown how Chua received the Raven, which is a $175,000 spy drone.
