Ex-Metro resident jailed in missile plot

9 June 1991
The Toronto Star
Michael Tenszen

A former Toronto resident who fled Ireland to "get away from the aggression" has been sentenced to four years and three months in a U.S. prison for trying to buy an anti-aircraft missile to destroy a British helicopter.

But Seamus Moley, 31 - known in Toronto as Hugh Nolan - is "pretty pleased" with his sentence, said his lawyer, Bruce Zimet of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. "He was convicted of only two charges - there were many more against him and he could have spent 28 years in prison," Zimet said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Two other Irishmen, Kevin McKinley of Riviera Beach, Fla., and Joseph McColgan of Dundalk, Ireland, were given the same sentence Friday by a U.S. District Court judge in Fort Lauderdale. The men had been held without bond since their arrests Jan. 12, 1990.

Charges against a fourth man, Sean McCann, 34 - a Canadian citizen formerly from Ireland - were dismissed for lack of evidence last July, Zimet said.

After a three-week trial by a U.S. federal jury, the three men were convicted on Dec. 11 of conspiring to buy a heat-seeking Stinger missile and attempting to buy a Stinger missile. Zimet said he plans to appeal Moley's conviction. He said his client was a victim of police entrapment. Moley's phone was bugged and he was secretly videotaped before he was arrested, Zimet added.

The lawyer also said he volunteered to represent Moley at no charge because he considered it an "intriguing, different type of case." He said his client, formerly of Northern Ireland, worked at laborer's jobs in Toronto for about eight years.

Zimet said Moley told him he came to Canada "to get away from the aggression" in his homeland. "He's a good-looking, athletic type of guy who played rugby and soccer," the lawyer added.

The trio, described by North Ireland police as being in the "upper echelons of the IRA," attempted to buy a Stinger missile for $50,000 from undercover agents. It is believed the missile was to be used to shoot down a British helicopter in Northern Ireland.

The three were acquitted of attempting to transport an explosive through foreign commerce, attempting to export defence materials without a licence and violating the Neutrality Act.

The "sting" operation began November, 1989, when two undercover FBI agents met McKinley in a bar in Lake Park, Fla. McKinley told the agents he wanted two .50-calibre anti-tank rifles to use against British soldiers.

He also said he needed long-range weapons that would penetrate armor. At a December meeting, one of the agents told McKinley he could supply a Stinger surface-to-air missile for $50,000. It was then that McKinley told the undercover agent he was with the IRA.