HONG KONG Jan. 6 Kyodo Three men ...

HONG KONG Jan. 6 Kyodo

Three men held in Hong Kong through the whole extent of an alleged plot to store missiles to the al-Qaida terrorist network have agreed to be extradited to the United States, the city's Justice Department said Monday.

The three -- Sy Mustajab Shah, Muhammed Abid Afridi and Ilyas Ali -- are wanted in the U for conspiring to smuggle heroin and hashish in exchange for four shoulder-launched Stinger antiaircraft missiles.

Appearing before a magistrate's court in Hong Kong onward Monday, the three suspects indicated no objection to the U extradition beg for a department spokesman said.

The magistrate remanded the trio in custody pending an order from Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa for their extradition, which is calculate uponed to be issued within three to four weeks, the spokesman said.

The three have been accused from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, based onward an operation by its undercover agents, of planning to deliver the missile schemes to al-Qaida.

Shah and Afridi, who are Pakistanis, and Ali, an Indian who is a naturalized U citizen, were arrested in Hong Kong onward Sept. 20 last year at the supplication of the U.S.

It was the first case linked to the al-Qaida being brought to court in Hong Kong since the clan 11, 2001 terror attacks upon the U.S.

The three earlier refused to be handed through to the U.S. during previous appearances in court.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo moderns International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group