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New Zealand Shell Companies

New Zealand Shell Companies

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2009 file photo, unidentified crew members of a Russian-made cargo plane detained in Bangkok for allegedly smuggling North Korean weapons to Iran are led by a Thai police officer to an interrogation room in Bangkok, Thailand. Taking advantage of liberal company laws in New Zealand, a New Zealand shell company, SP Trading, leased the airplane that was seized in Bangkok while carrying 35 tons of rocket-propelled grenades, surface-to-air missiles and other weaponry. The plane had picked up the cargo in North Korea and was headed for Iran. The crew, four Kazahks and a Belarusian, were incarcerated and charged with possessing weapons. (AP Photo/Apichart Weerawong, File)

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