--- category: BCCI Scandal summary: Arif Durrani was a Pakistani arms dealer convicted of illegally providing HAWK antiaircraft missile parts to Iran. tags: - Person - BCCI - CIA --- Arif Durrani was a [Pakistani](/places/pakistan/) arms dealer convicted of illegally providing HAWK antiaircraft missile parts to [Iran](/places/iran/).[^1] He was the son of an army general.[^2] ### Arms Dealing and BCCI Connections Durrani was described as a wealthy arms merchant who traveled the world in luxury.[^3] He admitted to supplying Iran with arms and stated that he was part of a joint operation conducted by the [United States](/places/united-states/) and [Israel](/places/israel/) to release American hostages in the [Middle East](/places/middle-east/).[^4] He met with a U.S. official named [Oliver North](/people/oliver-north/) to obtain HAWK parts.[^5] His arrest on October 3, 1986, occurred one month before the [U.S. government](/organizations/us-government/)'s secret arms-for-hostages deal with Tehran was revealed.[^6] Durrani had close connections to the [BCCI](/organizations/bank-of-credit-and-commerce-international/), knowing [Agha Hasan Abedi](/people/agha-hasan-abedi/) personally and having his operations financed by the bank.[^7] He grew up in [Karachi](/places/karachi/) with many of the men who became BCCI executives and worked with them from the beginning of his career as an arms dealer.[^8] He stated that BCCI basically funded operations on instructions from the government of Pakistan, including the construction of a Mirage factory.[^9] He outlined BCCI's and [Asaf Ali](/people/asaf-ali/)'s weapons deals across the globe, from Bulgaria to Nigeria.[^10] Durrani also stated that BCCI steered some of his business to [First American Bank](/organizations/first-american-bank/) in [New York City](/places/new-york-city/), considering BCCI and First American Bank interchangeable for financial transactions.[^11] Until his arrest, Durrani was the managing director of Merex, a California arms firm that supplied the Israelis.[^12] ### Sentence and Appeal In May 1987 Chief Judge T.F. Gilroy Daly of the federal court in Connecticut sentenced Durrani to ten years in prison and a fine of 2 million dollars for illegally exporting HAWK missile parts to Iran in 1986, with a concurrent ten years and 1 million dollars for selling arms without registering with the [State Department](/organizations/state-department/). The judge told him his testimony was riddled with "greed, lies, money, perjury, avarice and conniving" and that "your behavior was bordering on treason."[^13] In December 1987 the Second Circuit rejected his defense that he had acted on the orders of Oliver North and [John Poindexter](/people/john-poindexter/), the first use of what became known as the "Oliver North defense," and upheld the conviction (United States v. Durrani, 835 F.2d 410). A petition he filed in 2003, his fourth post-conviction attack on the sentence, was denied (Durrani v. United States, 294 F. Supp. 2d 204, D. Conn.).[^14][^15] From prison he told *Time* in 1991 that "Asaf is B.C.C.I.'s man in the weapons business," referring to Asaf Ali.[^16] [^1]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 9. [^2]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 321. [^3]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 304. [^4]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305. [^5]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305. [^6]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305. [^7]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305. [^8]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305. [^9]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 306. [^10]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 306. [^11]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 306. [^12]: Beaty, Jonathan and Gwynne, S. C. *The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI*. New York: Random House, 1993, p. 305. [^13]: "Arms dealer sentenced to 10 years," United Press International, May 13, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/05/13/Arms-dealer-sentenced-to-10-years/6753547876800/ [^14]: "Court rejects arms merchant's use of 'Oliver North defense,'" United Press International, December 4, 1987. https://www.upi.com/Archives/1987/12/04/Court-rejects-arms-merchants-use-of-Oliver-North-defense/3615565592400 [^15]: Durrani v. United States, 294 F. Supp. 2d 204 (D. Conn. 2003). [^16]: "Scandals: Not Just a Bank," *Time,* September 2, 1991. https://time.com/archive/6718475/scandals-not-just-a-bank/