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The Department of Justice has announced the arrest of a Pakistani-Canadian national who allegedly operated a covert procurement network to illegally export sensitive US technology to Pakistani entities linked to the country’s nuclear, missile, and drone programs.
Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, Pakistan is one of the nine countries known to possess nuclear weapons, having officially become a nuclear power in 1998 after conducting underground nuclear tests in response to similar tests by India. The roots of Pakistan’s nuclear program trace back to the 1970s, particularly after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and India’s first nuclear test in 1974, which pushed Pakistan to acquire a nuclear weapon. Pakistan now maintains an arsenal estimated at 170 nuclear warheads, supported by a growing missile delivery system that includes short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. Additionally, the country has rapidly developed its Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) capabilities, producing combat and surveillance drones mainly used in counterterrorism operations. These developments have kept Pakistan under intense international scrutiny, especially from the US, which imposes strict export restrictions to prevent advanced American technologies from bolstering these sensitive programs.
What’s going on now: In a press release, the Justice Department confirmed the arrest of Mohammad Jawaid Aziz, a 67-year-old Pakistani-Canadian national. Also known as Jawaid Aziz Siddiqui, Aziz was taken into custody on March 21, 2025, as he attempted to cross into Washington state from Canada. According to a partially unsealed indictment from the US District Court in Minnesota, Aziz allegedly ran an illicit procurement network through his company, Diversified Technology Services, based in Surrey, British Columbia, from 2003 to 2019.
Aziz is accused of unlawfully exporting items such as a thermal conductivity unit, a hand-held hydrogen detector, an acoustic emission system, and actuator motors—all of which are controlled under the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) and are included on the Commerce Control List due to their potential military applications. In one instance, a 2018 sting operation revealed that Aziz attempted to procure actuator motors from what he believed was a US supplier—unaware that the point of contact was an undercover government agent.
These motors are critical components in systems requiring precise motion control, such as drones or missile guidance systems.
Items like this require an export license, which Aziz and his network deliberately avoided by concealing the true end-users of the goods. The indictment alleges that he used front companies and transshipped products through third countries, making it difficult for US authorities and suppliers to trace the final destination of the exports.
Aziz now faces charges of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) and direct violations of the Export Control Reform Act. If found guilty, he could be looking at 25 years in prison.
