VZCZCXRO4146
PP RUEHGA RUEHHA RUEHMT RUEHQU RUEHVC
DE RUEHOT #1275/01 2731626
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291626Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY OTTAWA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8557
INFO RUCNCAN/ALL CANADIAN POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/HQ BICE INTEL WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHMCSUU/FBI WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001275 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PM/DTCC - BLUE LANTERN COORDINATOR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CA ETTC KOMC
SUBJECT: BLUE LANTERN LEVEL 3:  POST-SHIPMENT END-USE CHECK 
ON LICENSE 050096269 
 
REF: STATE 71696 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Per reftel, Consulates General Vancouver 
and Montreal investigated Astro Global Trading (AGT) and DSP 
Electronics, respectively, regarding the disposition of two 
cylinder assembly components for the Pilatus aircraft 
exported under application 050096269.  The owner of AGT -- 
Salar Soufizadeh -- confirmed that he received the two 
cylinder assembly components, but claimed that he later threw 
them away.  Soufizadeh says he cannot substantiate the 
components, final disposition.  Congen Montreal was unable 
to confirm that DSP Electronics -- identified as the end user 
for the aircraft components -- is located at the Montreal 
address cited in reftel or whether DSP Electronics received 
the components.  End summary. 
 
Congen Vancouver Inquiries at AGT 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Congen Vancouver Vice Consul and Consulate,s 
locally engaged fraud prevention investigator visited AGT in 
late August.  Located at 602 St. Andrews Road, West 
Vancouver, AGT appears to be a one-man operation run out of 
the den of Salar Soufizadeh's multi-million dollar home in an 
affluent neighborhood.  Soufizadeh told the Consulate 
officials that he had received the cylinder assembly 
components, which arrived via UPS in a 10 centimeter square 
box.  Soufizadeh confirmed that the cylinders were worth over 
USD 6,000 each. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Soufizadeh stated that the intended end user for the 
two cylinder assembly components had been Mehid Fahdi, whom 
Soufizadeh says he met while living in Dubai.  According to 
Soufizadeh, Fahdi wanted the cylinders for research purposes 
at a university in the province of Quebec.  Soufizadeh did 
not identify the university.  Soufizadeh stated that he 
ordered the aircraft orders for Fahdi because Fahdi lacked 
enough trader's credit to purchase the aircraft components 
directly and used Soufizadeh as a middleman.  Soufizadeh 
stated that he had placed an initial order for the components 
in early 2007, but said the components had not been shipped 
from the United States because he could not confirm the 
end-user.  Soufizadeh said a second order (application 
050096269) for the components was received in April 2008. 
Soufizaded stated that he eventually threw the two cylinders 
into a garbage can because he did not receive an end-user 
verification for the cylinders. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In an possible contradiction of his claim of having 
thrown the cylinders into the garbage, Soufizadeh stated that 
he could not show any receipts or confirmation that he had 
shipped the cylinders to Montreal because his office had been 
raided recently by the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA), 
which allegedly seized all his business documentation. 
(Comment:  CBSA confirmed to Congen,s ICE assistant attach 
that it did raid Soufizadeh,s office, but declined to 
provide further details.  End comment)  Soufizadeh said that 
during the raid, the CBSA officials had questioned his 
shipments of goods to China. Soufizadeh told Congen Vancouver 
officials that he has shipped a number of agricultural 
products, such as corn and beans to China, but could not 
remember the name of his Shanghai contact.  Despite claiming 
that the CBSA had seized all his business documents, 
Soufizadeh produced receipts and purchase orders for a number 
of high-value items processed by AGT, such airplane 
Qof high-value items processed by AGT, such airplane 
propellers, speed boat engines, and high-speed 1400 PCI 
Phototron cameras.  He stated that he shipped the USD 100,000 
cameras to Hyundai Industries in South Korea in an effort to 
allegedly help the company avoid paying customs duties. 
Soufizadeh said he locates clients and suppliers on the 
Internet. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Soufizadeh stated that he is an ethnic Kurd and that 
he immigrated to Canada in 2007 with his wife and daughter. 
Soufizadeh has recently started a residential construction 
company, Home Line Projects, which is registered at 1497 
Marine Dr., Suite 300, West Vancouver. 
 
Congen Montreal Visit 
--------------------- 
 
 
OTTAWA 00001275  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) ConGen Montreal poloff visited the listed address 
for DSP Electronics, but was (1) unable to determine whether 
DSP Electronics is located at that address and (2) unable to 
determine whether anyone had received the Pilatus aircraft 
components from AGT.  The listed address for DSP Electronics 
(1900 Lincoln Avenue, Montreal) is a brick, residential 
apartment complex.  Nothing about the building suggests that 
a warehouse, factory, or formal office space is located 
within the building -- and no names appear on the building,s 
mailboxes.  The property manager repeatedly told poloff that 
Canadian privacy laws prevented her from revealing the names 
of the building,s tenants.  The property manager did, 
however, state that if a package had arrived for DSP 
Electronics without a specific suite number, the package 
would have ended up in her office.  The manager said she did 
not remember receiving any such package. 
 
Visit Canada,s Economy and Environment Forum at 
http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/can ada 
 
WILKINS