Key Figure in Armenian Bomb Cases Arrested

A former senior designer for the Fluor Corp. suspected in a series of Armenian terrorist bombings in Los Angeles was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after five years as a fugitive, authorities announced Friday.

Vicken Tcharkhutian, a former Hollywood resident identified by an alleged co-conspirator as “a lunatic” who threatened others into cooperating in the bombings, was taken into custody as he got off a plane earlier this week and was held for questioning, Assistant U.S. Atty. Terree Bowers said.

Federal authorities say Tcharkhutian, 34, is a member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, an international terrorist organization believed responsible for a series of bombings in the United States and abroad with links to several Middle East terrorist groups.

He is accused of playing a key role in the successful bombings of Swiss Bank Corp. and a Hollywood flooring store, and the attempted bombing of the Swiss Consulate and an Air Canada warehouse at Los Angeles airport in 1981 and 1982.

‘Played an Integral Role’

“It’s clear that he played an integral role in the bombings, either in constructing the bombs or advising people on how to construct the bombs,” Bowers said.

Three Armenians convicted of placing an explosive-filled cottage cheese container on the doorstep of the Air Canada warehouse identified Tcharkhutian as the mastermind of the operation. The bomb was defused by police before it exploded.

Hratch Kozibioukian, a goldsmith who was convicted with his wife and an associate, said Tcharkhutian threatened to harm his family if he failed to carry out the bombing. “This is a lunatic,” Kozibioukian said after his conviction. “He wants to hit things left and right.”

Authorities say the Air Canada and Swiss buildings were targeted in order to obtain the freedom of jailed Armenian terrorists in Canada and Switzerland. The owner of the Hollywood flooring store hit with two bombs claimed to have been the subject of extortion demands, which he refused.

The extortion letters said the money would finance the group’s cause of liberating “our enslaved land and (giving) our people its national honor and human dignity.” An Armenian student acquitted in the extortion case identified Tcharkhutian as the extortionist.

Leave of Absence

The attempted Air Canada bombing, monitored by federal agents, took place a few days after Tcharkhutian took a leave of absence from his job at Fluor Corp. in Irvine and left the country.

He was arrested briefly in France at the request of U.S. authorities, but the French government refused to comply with extradition requests and eventually released him.

Bowers would not give details of Tcharkhutian’s whereabouts since his release but said he was believed to have been traveling in the Mediterranean.

Bowers also refused to say why Tcharkhutian returned to the United States, or when he was arrested, except to say it was “several days ago” and occurred without incident.

Held Without Bail

Tcharkhutian was brought before U.S. Magistrate John R. Kronenberg on Friday morning and ordered held without bail. He was scheduled for formal arraignment on Monday on federal charges of conspiracy, extortion, bombing of a protected foreign official establishment and attempted destruction of a building used in interstate commerce.

He faces a maximum of 65 years in prison if convicted on all the charges.