Missiles found in N.M.; man charged

ROSWELL, N.M. -- The president of a counterterrorism consulting firm has been charged with possessing 2,352 unregistered small military missiles.

Investigators also found 4,000 pounds of explosives at High Energy Access Tools, an antiterrorism and police training company that was conducting classes for students from the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, said Tom Mangan, a U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent.

David Hudak, a Canadian national and president of HEAT, was arrested Thursday and charged with possessing missiles not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, according to a federal complaint filed Friday.

"Under the plain language of the criminal complaint ... at this time this is a licensing and regulation issue, not a terrorism issue," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norm Cairns said Saturday.

Cairns said the students are not suspected of any wrongdoing.

The ATF agents were summoned for a search of HEAT facilities in Roswell and Tinnie on Thursday, Mangan said Saturday.

Frank Fish, director of security for HEAT, said after the arrest that the company had believed it was licensed to have appropriate equipment to train U.S. allies and export them to allied nations, but later found out the permit was not filed.

Fish also said the company invited agencies to inspect the sites because HEAT wanted to be sure it was compliant.

The complaint, obtained by the Albuquerque Tribune for a story in Saturday's editions, said agents found the missiles in 49 crates, each containing 48 warheads.

Hudak is a Canadian national in the country illegally, the complaint said. He was arrested by immigration agents at the company's training facility.

Afghan defense minister denies rift with Karzai

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim dismissed reports Saturday that a power struggle between himself and President Hamid Karzai threatens Afghanistan's transitional government.

Fahim said he and Karzai have "joined hands for maximum unity and peace" for their new government. Fahim rejected reports of growing tension between himself and Karzai as propaganda.

"I can think of no issue that would bring misunderstanding between myself and Mr. Karzai," Fahim said.

Elsewhere . . .

PAKISTAN WANTS GITMO RELEASES: Pakistan is seeking the release of some of the 58 Pakistanis held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because they are not hard-core al-Qaida members, Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said. Most of them were not al-Qaida members but simply ordinary people who went to Afghanistan to fight for the Taliban during last year's U.S. military campaign, he said.

'USS KENNEDY' RETURNS: Thousands of family members cheered as the USS Kennedy carrier pulled into port Saturday after a six-month deployment to the Arabian Sea. More than 7,000 sailors assigned to the battle group returned to bases near Jacksonville and in Norfolk, Va.

BONE FOUND ON N.Y. ROOFTOP: A construction worker found a human bone on a rooftop two blocks from the site of the World Trade Center on Friday, police said. The bone found might have been thrown onto the building by the force of the explosions and collapse of the trade center towers in the Sept. 11 attacks.

MAN CONVICTED IN DONATION THEFT: Volunteer firefighter Brian Lynch, 28, of Scotchtown, N.Y., was convicted of stealing nearly $8,000 in donation money from the widow of a New York City firefighter killed in the Sept. 11 attack. He faces up to 15 years in prison.

BRITISH SOLDIERS KILLED: Two British soldiers in the Kabul peacekeeping force died of gunshot wounds in a "nonhostile" incident, the peacekeeping command reported Saturday.

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