November 15-2013
A Belgian man has pleaded not guilty in Chicago to charges he tried to ship aluminum tubes to Iran.
Nicholas Kaiga, 36, identified by prosecutors as “of Brussels and London,” entered his plea last Thursday in federal court in Chicago.
Kaiga, the managing director of a Belgian company called Industrial Metals & Commodities, is accused of trying to ship aluminum tubes made by a suburban Chicago business to a company in Malaysia.
“The Malaysian business is a front company operated by an individual who is located at times in Iran,” Chicago US Attorney Zachary T. Fardon said.
Arrested in June, Kaiga remains in federal custody.
Men and women of many different nationalities have been charged by the United States with trying to smuggle illicit goods to Iran.
The tubing is used in the aerospace industry. among other applications, according to the US.