NATICK, MASS. (WHDH) – Residents who live near a home in Natick that was raided by federal agents on Monday say they’re shocked to learn that someone who lived in their neighborhood is facing charges in connection with a drone strike that killed US servicemembers.
Two men, including a dual Iranian American citizen, have been arrested on charges that they exported sensitive technology to Iran that was used in a drone attack in Jordan that killed three American troops early this year and injured dozens of other service members, the Justice Department said Monday.
The defendants were identified as Mahdi Mohammad Sadeghi, who prosecutors say works at a Massachusetts-based semiconductor company, and Mohammad Abedininajafabadi, who was arrested Monday in Italy as the Justice Department seeks his extradition to Massachusetts.
Prosecutors allege that Abedininajafabadi, who also uses the surname Adedini and operates an Iranian company that manufactures navigation systems for drones, has connections to Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. They allege that he conspired with Sadeghi to circumvent American export control laws, including through a front company in Switzerland, and procure sensitive technology into Iran.
Three Georgia soldiers — Sgt. William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Sgt. Breonna Moffett of Savannah and Sgt. Kennedy Sanders of Waycross — were killed in the Jan. 28 drone attack on a U.S. outpost in northeastern Jordan called Tower 22.
It was a combination of shock and disbelief on Woodland Street, where Sadeghi was living.
“Ive been here 15 years, I’m shocked to see media here and of course law enforcement agencies,” one neighbor said.
Other neighbors said the people living in the home kept to themselves but they never expected anything like this to have been happening right in their own backyard.
“The definitely is serious and shocking and again, I don’t know the family, so it will be interesting to see what develops from it,” the resident said.
This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.
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