Federal prosecutors say a Southern California woman was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) while trying to board a flight to Turkey after allegedly brokering Iranian weapons sales to Sudan.
Woman Arrested At LAX In Alleged Iran-To-Sudan Arms Trafficking Scheme
A 44-year-old Woodland Hills woman was arrested at LAX over the weekend and accused of helping broker Iranian weapons sales to Sudan, including drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition. Federal prosecutors say Shamim Mafi was taken into custody at LAX as she prepared to leave on a Turkish Airlines flight for Istanbul.
According to the criminal complaint, Mafi is charged under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and is accused of using an Omani company, Atlas International Business LLC, to help move Iranian-made weapons to the Sudanese Armed Forces. Prosecutors say she brokered the sale of 55,000 bomb fuses to Sudan’s Ministry of Defense and that the company, with some goods originating in China, received more than $7 million in payments in 2025.
Federal authorities claim this California resident was a broker in real arms deals tied to Iran and routed into one of the world’s ugliest wars. Sudan’s civil war has become a humanitarian catastrophe, and prosecutors say Mafi was helping supply the Sudanese Armed Forces with Iranian weapons while moving money in ways designed to dodge sanctions.
Federal authorities say Mafi emigrated from Iran to Istanbul before settling in Los Angeles and becoming a lawful permanent resident in 2016. Prosecutors allege she then worked with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, using an Omani shell company to move weapons and money between Iran and its proxies.
One of the more striking allegations is that she brokered sales of Qods Mohajer-6 drones for Sudan in 2024 (same drones Iran is supply to Russia to use against Ukraine), while also arranging payments through cash, hawalas, and banks in Dubai and Turkey. In one message cited by authorities, she allegedly instructed a contact on WhatsApp that payments should be made in small amounts and in cash in Turkey.
Sudanese officials flew to Tehran to inspect bomb fuses, but Mafi was allegedly unable to accompany them because the Iranian Revolutionary Guards did not permit women into the relevant facility. She allegedly had to send a man in her place. Social media posts also reportedly showed her posing with assault rifles and other military hardware in Turkey, mixed in with the sort of aspirational travel and lifestyle content like LA beach days you would expect from any other Los Angeles-based social media account…hence the reason I’m writing about this.
CONCLUSION
Shell companies, cash payments, coded logistics, and international travel to illegally evade sanctions and move arms…sounds like a Hollywood plot line to me, all the more richer becuase it involves a woman living in LaLa Land, allegedly moving between Los Angeles, Turkey, Oman, and Iran while brokering bombs, drones, and ammunition for a war that has killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions…and posting pictures of her self on social media as she does it.
Mafi was expected to appear in federal court in Los Angeles today. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison. Although she was trying to board a Turkish Airlines flight out of the USA, as Maxwell Smart would have put it, “Missed it by that much…”
images: Shamim Mafi / Facebook (middle photo courtesy of United States Attorney Bill Essayli)
Quick call Bravo and Andy Cohen. Really Dangerous Women of LA?
Yikes. All bad.
South Sudan is a genuine genocidal campaign, but because there are no Israelis involved the progressives pay zero attention. The horrendous war between DR Congo and Rwanda is likewise genocidal, but since they can’t blame the dirty, bloodthirsty, baby-eatimg Jew, lefty activists are silent.
What utter nonsense. Progrssives do care and are talking about South Sudan and the situation in the Congo. Maybe if you actually spoke to progressives you would know that.
I think she missed it a lot. Arm dealer residing in US is never a good idea except you deals with US blessing.