In one case filed yesterday in District Court of Guam, four men are accused of attempting to smuggle weaponry -- including machines guns, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, night-vision goggles and sniper rifles -- through Guam to Sri Lanka.

In a second case filed yesterday in District Court, one of those men and two other men are accused of attempting to smuggle night-vision goggles and holographic weapons sights through Guam to Indonesia. Documents do not say who was to receive the equipment in Indonesia.

Both smuggling cases have one defendant in common, Haji Subandi of Indonesia. Department of Corrections Director Bob Camacho last night confirmed Subandi is being detained in the federal detention facility in Hagatna.

In both cases, the alleged smugglers got in contact with a U.S. business that actually is a front for federal undercover agents.

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office could not be reached for comment last night.

According to court documents, two of the four men charged in the first case allegedly arrived on Saipan Sept. 25, then travelled to Guam to inspect the weapons on Sept. 26 and to discuss how the weapons would be shipped from Guam and off-loaded by a separatist group known as the Tamil Tigers, formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The group, which in the past has launched suicide bomb attacks, has been in a civil war with the government of Sri Lanka for more than two decades -- a war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

According to court documents, the men were being monitored as part of a federal sting operation, and the smuggling plan started in April in Maryland, where one of the men met undercover officers and test-fired several weapons, including machine guns and sniper rifles.

The four men, who are accused of serving as middlemen for the purchase of the arms, allegedly agreed to pay $900,000 for weapons, and $250,000 of that amount allegedly was wired to Maryland on Aug. 2 from a bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Thirunavukarasu Varatharasa was charged with conspiracy to export defense articles. Haniffa Bin Osman of Singapore; Haji Subandi, of Indonesia; and Erik Wotulo, also of Indonesia, are each charged with conspiracy to export arms and ammunition, conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, and money laundering. Bin Osman, who allegedly arrived on Guam Sept. 26 to inspect the weapons, is described in court documents as an alleged representative of the Tamil group.

Night-vision case

According to court documents, Subandi in March 2004 approached an undercover business about buying equipment used by U.S. special forces, including night-vision goggles, to ship to Indonesia.

He allegedly placed an order for goggles and a weapons sight this August and wired $2,950 the same month to an account in the United States. Subandi arrived on Guam Sept. 21 with two alleged financial backers -- Reinhard Rusli and Helmi Soedirdja. They met with undercover officers Sept. 22, then again on Sept. 23, when they asked to inspect the devices.

Rusli and Soedirdja allegedly told undercover officers on Sept. 24 that they intended to bring the devices to Indonesia that evening on a flight from Guam. All three men were charged with conspiracy to export defense articles.

Guam is a U.S. territory located 3,700 miles west of Hawai`i.