SPY-SHOP OWNER SAID TO LEAD DOUBLE LIFE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210071-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 71
• Publication Date: September 16, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT-
Y
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-
ARTICLE A RED
ON PAG~
'bus todmS SdLTI6AJ
Spy-ShopOwner
Said tO Lead
Double Life
,Tamil Called Accomplice
In `Sting' to Snare Agents
The Counter S shoo at 18th and K
streets has all the e- uh mend
modern secret agent needs to go into
business. From u visible ink to to ep one- ug
eetectors to a riefcase rigged with con-
cealed tape recor rs, the boutique-like store.
offers wealthy bness people and foreign
diplomats the latest in surveillance and secu-
rity devices.
The owner o
like it around th
York businessma
the
largest st of i
But wUe bui
s em re,
J
according to c
became u c.
allegedly violas
Jamil edame a
mend "shin o
to ores n a end ,
anu allowed
his New York h
videotape equipm
merous business
t
h
e store and several nth,-ra
wor is en am a New
h lairds his
woc can is
t1
i nd
in the workL -
ldi
ng
s
into thcaal counter-
a
mil
also has led a double e
-
a
,
ft
documents that recen
A
fter a m ctmeent or
1981
. ex ort-conontro a ,
e
red ormant for a wern-
e
ion that sold soy e inert
ocuments sT
he orse
Customs officZ to wire
dquarters with audio and
nt while he conducted nu-
with buyers represent-
Wing Libya, the Soviet Union and other nations
in 1982 and 1983, the documents said.
These deals, which were arranged by Jan-al
under instructions from U.S. agents, led to at
least six federal investigations into allegedly
illegal exports of
By Mark Hosenball
soe.W to TAe Walton eat
ii itary and other espionage
equipment, incl
tronic debugging
In exchange for J
criminal charges
vices and "false bottom"
g to the court records.
's cooperation, federal
October 1983 to drop
WASHINGTON POST
16 September 1985
total of $10,000. Although Jamil declined to
comment, his attorney wrote The Post saying
that "at no time" had Jamil "agreed to conduct
his regular business in such a way as to use'
electronic devices to record conversations
with ordinary customers who tome into the
office .... Mr. Jamil has never been found
guilty of any violations of the law."
Jamil's role as government informant-and
the details of his agreement with the Justice
Department-are contained in December
1983 documents that recently were placed on
the public record in federal court in Brooklyn,
N.Y.
These documents, which were unsealed at
the order of a federal judge, include a letter
from a government prosecutor outlining
Jamil's role in six federal investigations.
Two of these investigations were described
in the letter by assistant U.S. attorney David
V. Kirby as being `extremely significant to
our office," involving attempts by "hostile for-.
eign powers" to purchase technology "critical
to the security of the United States."
Government prosecutors said recently they
could not cite any public indictments pro-
duced- as a result of Jamil's efforts in. those
two cases. But they said Jamil.had been help-
ful in developing two other cases that have
become public. One of them involves a New
York arms dealer who was charged this year
with an allegedly illegal attempt to ship ma-
chine guns to Poland and military "tight vi-
sion" devices to Argentina during the Falk-
lands War. .
Prosecutors also declined to say whether
Jamil still is serving as a'government infor-
mant, but they acknowledged they did not
oppose an order by U.S. Judge Jack B. Wein-
stein to place the documents in the court's
public files.
"It may at this point look from the outside
like it was a bad bargain, but I don't think so,"
said Kirby when asked about the use of Jamil
as an informant. We may have to sit here and
take our lumps on that .... But time will tell.
Not all the cards are in."
One Justice Department official said the
government's bargain with Jamil also could be
justified on the grounds that the original case
against him "was not that significant."
"The type of equipment he was shipping
was pretty unsophisticated," this official said.
It was routine electronic stuff that was re-
packaged .... So the trade-off in those
terms was pretty valuable," the official said.
According to a memorandum submitted by
Jamil's lawyers to Weinstein, one of the items
exported by Tamil originally was designed as a
tool for television repairmen and was repack-
aged and marketed by CCS as a bug detector.
illegal - sales of egha mend to Syria,. Ghaea;
Switzerland and Greece, the records said As
part of the arrauoment, Jamil's company,
CCS Communicatio Control Inc., of which
he is chairman and chief stockholder, pleaded
guilty to the same charges and was fined a
00806 R000100210071-9
Jamil's agreement to become an informant
was so secret that one of his key partners was
unaware of it, the partner said. Contacted in
his New York office, Jamil declined to com-
ment and, through a spokeswoman, directed a
reporter to talk to CCS President Carl Lande.
Reached in London, Lande said he had no
knowledge about Jamil's work for the govern-
ment and didn't realize the firm's New York
headquarters had been bugged by federal
agents.
"I was not aware that our conference room
was wired," said Lande. "But if what you're
telling me about Mr. Jamil is true, I say, good
for him.
"For an undercover operation to become
public like this, - I find it mind-boggling," Lands added. "Why would you want to expose
such a thing?"
Long considered among the leading U.S.
marketers of security equipment. Jamil
has built CCS into a multimillion-dollar
operation that, according to Lands, a prob-
ably the largest firm of its kind in the world.
The company says that its clients have includ-
ed federal agencies, foreign governments in
the Mideast, Central America and Africa, and
a host of wealthy businessmen, such as Saudi
arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi.
The Washington shop, which is in the lower
lobby of the office building at 1801 K St. NW,
consists of a small showroom lined with glass
cases displaying some of Jamil;s wares.
Among its more exotic offerings has been an
antiterrorist Mercedes limo whose features
include a, bulletproof exterior, steel rein-
forced bumpers for ramming, flip-down gun
portals, remote ignition control, and a protec-
tive system that surrounds the car with tear
gas when under attack. Lando said, depend-
ing on what options are chosen, the car can
cost up to $250,000.
Jamil has attracted controversy in the past.
CCS's contract to be the official security. sup-
plier to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake
Placid, N.Y., was canceled after an investi-
gation by the New York State Select Commit-
tee on Crime. In a January 1980 report, the
panel alleged that a now-bankrupt company
operated by Jamil in the 1970s had borrowed
money from a firm said to be a front for an
organized crime figure.
Jamil's attorney, Jonathan W. Lubell, wrote
to The Post that "neither Mr. Jamil nor any
company of his has ever had any relationship
with organized crime, nor has Mr. Jamil
knowingly had any connection with any com-
pany which, in turn, has been described as
having a connection with organized crime. If
in the course of his business activities Mr.
"
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00806R000100210071-9