Bosnian Arms Dealer Sentenced to 60 Months in Federal Prison for Plot to Buy Air-Defense Missiles From North Korea
The U.S. Department of Justice announced that Sasa Micev, 43, a citizen of Bosnia and an international arms dealer, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea by conspiring and attempting to broker the sale of man-portable air defense systems.
According to court documents, Micev worked with a co-conspirator based in New Mexico and others to violate and evade restrictions imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury under the North Korea Sanctions Regulations, brokering the purchase of SA-18 Igla portable surface-to-air missiles from North Korea without the required license or approvals from the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). On multiple occasions in 2020, Micev discussed unlawfully acquiring the Igla missiles, provided pricing information, and participated in efforts to obtain the items through falsified documentation, knowing that such transactions were prohibited under U.S. and international laws. In late 2020, Micev and the co-conspirator traveled to Ankara, Turkey, to meet and complete the sale of the missiles, but the sale fell through after a price dispute with the North Koreans.
Micev pleaded guilty to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and the North Korean Sanctions Regulations. "U.S. sanctions mean little if those who knowingly evade them face no consequences," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison for the District of New Mexico. Ryan G. McRae, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, said those who knowingly circumvent U.S. export controls and international sanctions to facilitate the illicit trafficking of military weapons pose a serious threat to U.S. national security and global stability, and that HSI aggressively pursues those who traffic in restricted military technology.
The case was investigated by HSI's Albuquerque and Phoenix field offices. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tavo Hall and Holland Kastrin for the District of New Mexico are prosecuting the case, with the assistance of Trial Attorney Maria Fedor of the National Security Division's Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.
(Source: U.S. Department of Justice press release)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 9K38「针」式（SA-18）便携式防空导弹资料图，Andre Gustavo Stumpf Filho 摄，CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
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- 2026-10-15Bosnian Arms Dealer Sentenced to 60 Months in U.S. Prison for Trying to Broker Portable Air-Defense Missiles From North Korea
