Calif Jury Acquits Man Of Sending Secrets To Yemen

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - A 45-year-old man accused of conspiring to break export laws by shipping military uniforms to Yemen has been found not guilty.

A federal jury in Fresno on Monday cleared Ibrahim Omer of two felony charges tied to the Export Control Act.

The probe began in 2003 when the FBI received a tip from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials about a shipment of chemical suits and body armor from Long Beach to Yemen.

Federal prosecutors alleged Omer, who lived in Bakersfield at the time, agreed to send the items to Yemen. It's illegal to do that without State Department authorization.

A co-defendant, Amen Ahmed Ali, has been sentenced to five years in prison. A third defendant, Mohamed Al-Rahimi, remains at large.

Omer was born in Sudan but is a legal permanent resident of the U.S.