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Blackwater Co. denies any role in arms
smuggling
23.9.2007
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September
23, 2007
Blackwater USA denied Saturday any involvement in
illegal weapons smuggling, responding to reports the
private security contractor is a target of federal
prosecutors.
"Allegations that Blackwater was in any way
associated or complicit in unlawful arms activities
are baseless," the company said in a statement. "The
company has no knowledge of any employee improperly
exporting weapons."
Officials said the U.S. Attorney's Office in
Raleigh, N.C., is handling the investigation with
help from Pentagon and State Department auditors.
Officials in Washington, D.C., said the smuggling
investigation grew from internal Pentagon and State
Department inquiries into U.S. weapons that had gone
missing in Iraq.
Turkish authorities protested to the U.S. in July
that they had seized American arms from the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, rebels.
The PKK is fighting for an independent Kurdistan and
is banned in Turkey, which has a restive Kurdish
population. The PKK is considered a "foreign
terrorist organization" by the State Department, a
designation that bars U.S. citizens or those in U.S.
jurisdictions from supporting the group in any way.
On Saturday, The News & Observer of Raleigh, citing
unidentified sources, reported that two former
Blackwater employees — Kenneth Wayne Cashwell of
Virginia Beach, Va., and William Ellsworth "Max"
Grumiaux of Clemmons, N.C. — are cooperating with
federal investigators. According to court records,
the men pleaded guilty in early 2007 to possession
of stolen firearms that had been shipped in
interstate or foreign commerce.
Blackwater said Saturday that the company
immediately fired the men after learning they were
stealing from the company and invited the federal
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
to investigate.
The federal probe into Blackwater came to light last
week, after State Department Inspector General
Howard Krongard mentioned it while denying he had
improperly blocked fraud and corruption probes in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a letter to a House committee chairman, Krongard
denied he had refused to cooperate with an
investigation into alleged weapons smuggling by a
large, unidentified State Department contractor.
Krongard said in a statement that he "made one of my
best investigators available to help Assistant U.S.
Attorneys in North Carolina in their investigation
into alleged smuggling of weapons into Iraq by a
contractor."
Blackwater is based in Moyock, N.C.
AP
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