A British citizen was arrested in Newark, New Jersey yesterday for allegedly trying to sell a shoulder-fired missile to an undercover agent. Two Afghan men allegedly connected to the plot were also arrested in New York.

The Los Angeles Times identified the arms dealer as Hemad Lakhani, an Englishman of Indian descent.

The FBI along with British and Russian agents have been involved with the case since October, when the man bought a disarmed missile from Russian officials.

He was then allowed, with help from U.S. agents, to transport the missile into the U.S. Once he was in the U.S. he attempted to sell the missile to U.S. agents posing as members of Al Qaeda. It was a complex double sting operation, says the government.

The BBC reports it’s unlikely the man would have ever been able to smuggle the missile into the United States, if he wasn’t being duped by U.S. agents. The Washington Post quotes an official saying “There is no credible information that terrorists are in control of these kinds of missiles in this country”.

Officials also disputed notions that the arms dealer was motivated out of support for Al Qaeda. The unnamed official noted the man was not a Muslim and said “I think he was out for the buck. He just wanted to make some money.”

Some governmental officials alleged the real significance of the case was not that they’d caught a low level arms dealer but that U.S. and Russian agents were able to work so closely on the case.

While most papers ran the arrest on page one, the Washington Post downplayed the entire incident. It appears on the 28th page in today’s newspaper.