Federal agents arrested a Woodland Hills resident at LAX on Saturday night on suspicion of brokering military hardware shipments for the Iranian government to African nations, according to prosecutors.
Shamim Mafi, 44, faces charges related to coordinating the sale of drones, bombs, ammunition, and ordnance components valued in the tens of millions of dollars. The Iranian national and U.S. permanent resident since 2016 allegedly operated through a company called Atlas International, court documents show.
Mafi's alleged scheme centered on Sudan, where she reportedly orchestrated the transfer of Iranian-manufactured drones to the Sudanese defense ministry in a deal worth more than 60 million euros. She earned approximately 6 million euros for her role in coordinating travel arrangements that brought Sudanese officials to Iran to complete the transaction, according to investigators.
Her background raises additional flags. Mafi maintained residences in multiple countries, regularly traveling between Iran, Turkey, and Oman. Before establishing U.S. residency, she lived in Istanbul from 2013 to 2016. In interviews with federal officials, she disclosed that her first husband worked as an officer for Iran's ministry of intelligence and security.
The case emerged from federal searches of documents and records, including social media photographs showing Mafi posing with weapons inside a Turkish warehouse and enjoying leisure time in California. The stark contrast between her casual online presence and the allegations underscores investigators' view of her activities.
Sudan's ongoing civil war, which erupted in 2023, has created conditions where such weapons transfers carry serious humanitarian consequences. The conflict has displaced more than 13 million people and killed hundreds of thousands of civilians, making any arms contributions to the region's combatants potentially consequential to the scale of suffering.
Mafi is scheduled to appear Monday at the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Conviction on the charges carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.
Author James Rodriguez: "This case shows how deeply Iran's procurement networks reach into American soil, exploiting the freedoms of residency to move weapons that fuel some of Africa's deadliest conflicts."
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