March 15 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government charged 18 people with trafficking in Russian-made weapons, including grenade launchers, shoulder-fired missiles and machine guns, the Associated Press reported.

The arrests resulted from a yearlong wiretap investigation that had an informant posing as someone trying to sell weapons to terrorists, U.S. Attorney David Kelley's office in New York said, AP reported.

The unidentified defendants are charged with weapons trafficking, as well as conspiring to traffic in machine guns and other assault weapons, and with selling eight such arms, Kelley's office said in a statement.

(AP 3-15)

To contact the reporter on this story: Todd Zeranski in New York at tzeranski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 15, 2005 09:58 EST