Arms dealer gets 4 years for Kuwait sale

LONDON, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A British arms dealer has been sentenced to four years in prison for selling Iranian weapons to Kuwait.

John Knight of Fawkham, Kent, was the first person to be prosecuted under new laws aimed at controlling arms sales by British citizens between other countries, The Guardian reported. He had been denied an export license for the deal involving 130 automatic weapons because investigators believed the arms might end up in the possession of terrorists.

Knight had an agreement with the Kuwait Interior Ministry for the purchase of the guns. Prosecutors said that when he was denied an export license he created a false paper trail to convince authorities he had backed out of the deal, and then went ahead with it anyway.

Investigators found shredded papers at Knight's home showing he was involved in the sale.

Knight, a millionaire, became notorious in 1991 when a reporter posing as a customer arranged to buy Kalashnikovs from him.