A British market trader has been jailed for 47 years in America after being convicted of attempting to sell shoulder-fired missiles to undercover agents posing as terrorists.

Hemant Lakhani, 70, from Hendon, North London, was trapped in an elaborate FBI sting which drew on intelligence from a network of double-agents spanning three continents.

Passing sentence, Judge Katherine Hayden today told New Jersey District Court in Newark: "There is overwhelming evidence that Mr Lakhani was prepared to sell missiles to terrorists to shoot down aircraft which could have killed hundreds of human beings."

"He illustrated a single-minded greed and determination to profit from the arms trade."

President Bush, who took an unusually close interest in the case, described Lakhani as "a significant arms-dealer and a dangerous terrorist".

Lakhani, who was convicted in April, broke down as he addressed the court, pleading for leniency. His defence team described him as a minor if unscrupulous dealer who has failed at virtually every deal that he tried to set up.

Traders who had worked with Lakhani in London's West End rag trade before he became drawn into arranging the arms deal described him as 'more Del Boy than Del Boy' referring to the hapless wheeler-dealer in Only Fools and Horses.

"You have no idea what this has done to me," he told the court.

"My health is no good, I can hardly walk, I do not want to die here in this country. Me, my wife and my son are a small unit and I wish to get home as soon as possible. Everybody wants to die in their own motherland. I am completely exhausted."

The Indian-born clothing merchant has been behind bars since his arrest in August 2003. A jury unanimously convicted him of five charges including two counts of money laundering and smuggling merchandise into America by means of false statements after a five-week trial.

The prosecution hailed the conviction as a victory in the war on terror but Lakhani’s wife, Kusum, who also addressed the court, tearfully insisted that her family had no links to terrorist groups

"We are normal people, we have a good life in London, we live normally and we are God-fearing," she said. "Myself and my son are ashamed of this outcome but please consider our name and our family."

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