Dallas-area woman charged with smuggling 3 night vision rifle scopes to Russia

Texan charged with smuggling night vision scopes

DALLAS — Federal authorities have charged a Dallas-area woman with trying to smuggle three night-vision rifle sights to Russia.

A federal court affidavit filed in New York accuses 24-year-old Anna Fermanova of suburban Plano of trying tried to move the scopes in March without the proper export licenses.

The document says the devices were seized as Fermanova was boarding a plane for Moscow at JFK International Airport.

The case was first disclosed on the website thesmokinggun.com. It comes weeks after Anna Chapman pleaded to being a Russian spy.

But Fermanova’s attorney, Scott Palmer, said Fermanova’s case does not involve spying. He said Fermanova bought the rifle sights online for a friend of her husband, who lives in Moscow, and that they were to be used for hunting.