A Singaporean man has been sentenced to 40 months in a U.S. prison for his role in exporting thousands of radio frequency modules from the U.S. to Iran, at least 14 of which were later found in unexploded improvised explosive devices in Iraq.
Lim Yong Nam, also known as Steven Lim, 43, pleaded guilty in December of illegally exporting the modules through Singapore to Iran. The U.S. Justice Department said Lim and his associates admitted knowing that the export of U.S.-origin goods to Iran was a violation of U.S. law.
The radio frequency modules made by a Minnesota company have several commercial applications, including in wireless local area networks connecting printers and computers in office settings.
In 2008 and 2009, coalition forces in Iraq recovered numerous modules made by the Minnesota firm that had been utilized as part of the remote detonation system for IEDs, which were the major source of American combat casualties in Iraq.
Lim was extradited to the U.S. in 2016 from Indonesia, where he had been held since 2014 in connection with the U.S. request for extradition, the Justice Department said.
