VZCZCXRO9602
RR RUEHBI RUEHCI
DE RUEHCG #0134/01 1020741
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110741Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1602
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3065
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 0941
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 5216

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CHENNAI 000134 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ETTC KOMC IN
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3: POST-LICENSE PRE-SHIPMENT CHECK ON 
LICENSE 05-050028972 
 
REF: A) STATE 19666  B) JOUBERT-LIN/WOODARD E-MAILS 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Post does not recommend approval of this license. 
 Both the foreign consignee and end-user have been difficult or 
impossible to contact, and much of the contact information on the 
license check request is erroneous.  The end-user has also been 
evasive and non-cooperative.  We have little confidence that either 
the foreign consignee or the end-user is capable of safeguarding the 
item in question or of preventing the item from being transferred to 
a third party. 
 
End-user evasive and non-cooperative 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) We contacted the end-user (Vijay Babu) by telephone on 
March 14, who told us that he has had the item for approximately two 
months.  (This contrasts with ref B, which indicates that the item 
has not been shipped.)  Babu expressed some discomfort when we asked 
to meet with him at his place of business so that we could meet him 
and see the equipment, even though we assured him this was a 
standard procedure for certain equipment on the US Munitions List 
(USML), a term he did not recognize.  After receiving ref B, we 
called Babu again to verify the shipment's status, and he again 
confirmed his possession of the item.  He appeared more helpful 
during this telephone conversation, but said that he needed "a 
couple of days for personal matters" before he would be able to meet 
and show us the equipment. 
 
Curious location 
---------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) We sent a driver to locate the Neera Technical Services 
address (Plot 18-2-20, Rasool Pura, Begumpet, Secuderabad) listed in 
ref A.  After searching the neighborhood, the driver determined that 
the address does not exist.  The person who answered the company's 
landline number (+91 40-65691144) stated "they" (presumably a 
reference to the company) were not in the city, but provided a cell 
phone number (+91 99-8564-7256) to contact.  The man who answered 
that number declined to provide the address of the company, but 
agreed to meet at a nearby location. 
 
¶4. (SBU) We then met that man, who identified himself as Ahmed 
Basha.  (Upon learning that the Consulate was involved, Basha showed 
a police ID card and claimed to be a police officer.)  He agreed to 
take us to Neera's office.  We accompanied him to his residence 
(1-18-20 Gun Bazar, Rasool Pura, Begumpet, Secunderabad), where he 
showed us a locked door on the third level of his building.  Basha 
said that Vijay Babu rents the apartment and runs Neera Technical 
Services from there.  We were not able to see the inside of the 
apartment but Basha stated that the office contains a computer, fax 
machine, telephone and desk.  We asked Basha if he knew of any other 
equipment located in the office; he replied that he did not know of 
any other equipment.  Basha stated that Babu was out of town and 
would return sometime the following week. 
 
¶5. (SBU) We spoke with Babu again on March 26.  He told us he would 
call us later that day to set up an appointment for an assistant to 
show us the equipment in question, but he never called back.  Since 
then, we have had no success in contacting Babu, despite repeated 
attempts.  The first contact number, +91 40-65691144, is "switched 
off" according to the voice recording.  The other number for Babu 
listed in ref A, a mobile number, (+91-9391173337), fails to connect 
to anything other than a standard voice recording for an inoperable 
number:  "please check the number you have dialed." 
 
Misleading information 
---------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) We asked the local telephone company to provide the address 
for the primary telephone number for Neera (+91 40-65691144).  The 
telephone company told us that the address for that number is 
7-340/1, Maruthi Nagar Vaishali Nagar - Post, Hyderabad.  This 
address corresponds to the Foreign Consignee's address in ref A, not 
the address listed for Neera. 
 
Unable to contact foreign consignee 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) We were unable to contact the foreign consignee using the 
contact information in ref A.  The mobile phone is switched off. 
The two landline numbers are currently not in use.  Dialing the fax 
number results simply in a busy signal.  With an Internet search, we 
found two businesses named "Sameer Electronics" in Hyderabad.  We 
spoke with both, who claimed to deal only in consumer electronics 
components and finished goods, not the type of equipment that shows 
up on the USML. 
 
Recommendation:  no license 
 
CHENNAI 00000134  002 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Given the difficulty of contacting both the end-user and 
foreign consignee and the end-user's unwillingness to cooperate 
fully, we recommend that this license be either denied or revoked, 
as appropriate.  We also recommend that both the foreign consignee 
and end-user be prohibited from purchasing or transferring USML 
items until we can establish their bona fides. 
 
¶9. This message was coordinated with Embassy New Delhi and the RSO 
posted in Hyderabad to prepare for the opening of a consulate 
there. 
 
HOPPER