On March 10, 1992, in Frankfurt am Main eight people suspected of selling illegal weapons to Middle East countries, including Iraq, were arrested.
The alleged $96-million deal included 4,000 grenade launchers, 1,000 portable anti-aircraft missiles, and 73,000 assault rifles to be provided to insurgents.
Two American and six Polish nationals were extradited to the US and tried in the U.S. District in Brooklyn court.
Due to friendly relationship between the US and Poland and to diplomacy by then Polish president Lech Wałęsa, the suspects were offered a deal which would see them repatriated to Poland in return for guilty pleas.
They all rejected the deal, following the advice of their attorney Alan Drezin, and of the wives of three them, who had traveled to Brooklyn to plead the innocence of their husbands.