A jury has convicted a California man of conspiring to import surface-to-air missiles into the United States from China. 

Yi Qing Chen, 46, was found guilty of conspiring to smuggle Chinese-made QW-2 shoulder-fired missiles and counterfeit cigarettes into the country, according to U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte of the Central District of California. 

Chen is the first person to be convicted by a jury under 18 U.S.C. § 2332g, an anti-terrorism law prohibiting the importation of missiles that can be used to destroy aircraft, Birotte said in a statement. 

Chen faces a mandatory minimum prison term of 25 years when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer of the Central District of California in February, prosecutors said. 

In September 2005 Chen and a co-conspirator, Chao Tung Wu, negotiated with an undercover FBI agent to have several QW-2 missiles and associated hardware transported to the United States from China. 

Agents arrested both men before the missiles could be shipped. 

Birotte said Chen and Wu also were charged with distributing narcotics and smuggling millions of counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes into the United States from China. 

In addition Wu conspired to import “Supernotes,” high-quality counterfeit $100 bills made in North Korea. 

After a two-week trial the jury found Chen guilty on the drug and smuggling charges. 

Wu pleaded guilty to smuggling charges in 2006 but died before he could be sentenced, prosecutors said. 

The charges against both men resulted from an FBI investigation called Operation Smoking Dragon, which is aimed at illegal shipments entering the United States. 

United States v. Chen, No. 05-CR-806, defendant convicted (C.D. Cal. Oct. 6, 2010).