Queens Man Found Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court for Conspiracy and Attempting to Provide Material Support to Hizballah

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that PATRICK NAYYAR, a citizen of India who had been residing illegally in the United States, was found guilty yesterday in Manhattan federal court of five counts related to support he attempted to provide Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization. NAYYAR was convicted after a seven-day jury trial before U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet.

According to the superseding indictment filed in Manhattan federal court and the evidence presented at trial:

Between July 2009 and September 2009, NAYYAR and his co-conspirator, Conrad Stanisclaus Mulholland, agreed to provide weapons, ammunition, and vehicles to Hizballah, a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization based in Lebanon. During a series of meetings with a confidential informant working with the FBI, who represented himself as able to deliver materials to Hizballah, NAYYAR and Mulholland agreed to sell guns, ammunition, vehicles, bulletproof vests, and night vision goggles to the confidential informant. During these meetings, NAYYAR and Mulholland provided the confidential informant with a handgun, a box of ammunition, and a pick-up truck, believing that he would deliver the items to Hizballah in Lebanon.

NAYYAR was charged in the Southern District of New York in October 2009, following his arrest in the Eastern District of New York at his residence in Queens, New York, in September 2009 on a separate charge.

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NAYYAR, 48, was convicted of:

■count one—conspiring to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization;

■count two—attempting to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization;

■count three—conspiring to make or receive a contribution of funds, goods, or services to, and for the benefit of, Hizballah;

■count four—attempting to make a contribution of funds, goods, or services to, and for the benefit of, Hizballah; and

■count five—conspiring to traffic in firearms and ammunition.

Count one and count two each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison; count three and count four each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and count five carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison. In total, NAYYAR faces a maximum sentence of 75 years in prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Sweet on September 25, 2012 at 4:30 p.m.

NAYYAR’s co-conspirator, Mulholland, 45, who is not a citizen of the U.S. and resides abroad, left the U.S. before charges were filed and remains at large. The charges against Mulholland are pending, and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI and the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force.

The case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Sean Buckley and Stephen Ritchin are in charge of the prosecution.