Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

A Bolingbrook man has been indicted on federal charges of violating U.S. export laws after he tried to ship a thermal-imaging camera to Pakistan without obtaining the required U.S. Commerce Department license, according to the U.S. attorney’s Northern District of Illinois office.
Bilal Ahmed, 33, was charged with one count of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of attempted smuggling of goods in violation of U.S. export regulations in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury May 7, according to a U.S. attorney’s office release.
Ahmed was initially charged in a criminal complaint and arrested March 14 before being released on $100,000 bond, according to the release. He did not return requests for comment.
The case involves a FLIR HRC-U thermal-imaging camera, an item “on the Commerce Control List … for reasons of national security and regional stability,” the release states.
The camera required a Commerce Department license when being exported to certain countries, including Pakistan, according to the indictment against Ahmed.
Such a camera was classified as a dual-use item in federal export regulations, meaning it has military and nonmilitary applications, and is banned from being exported without a license due to “various national security reasons,” according to the indictment.
As the owner, president and registered agent of the Schaumburg-based Trexim Corp., Ahmed corresponded with a company in California from November to February to negotiate purchase of the thermal camera, according to the U.S. attorney’s office release.
Ahmed ended up purchasing the camera for about $102,000, which he paid for with two checks in February, according to the release.
He picked up the camera Feb. 27 from a commercial shipping store in Bolingbrook, the release states.
Ahmed reportedly took the camera, packed in two boxes, to a different commercial shipping store in Elk Grove Village on March 7 and left the packages to be shipped to a Pakistani company, the release states.
The waybill included a handwritten note containing “NLR,” meaning “no license required,” according to the release.
Violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act carries a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1 million fine, while attempted smuggling of goods carries a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.