Taiwan arms suspect was "Top Gun" geek: NY lawyer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Taiwanese man accused of smuggling military equipment including a fighter pilot's helmet bought the items because he is a personal collector of military gear who liked the "Top Gun" look, his lawyer said on Tuesday.

Yen Ching Peng was extradited from Hong Kong and pleaded not guilty in New York on Monday to federal charges including conspiring to smuggle military equipment to Taiwan and money laundering.

After a hearing on Tuesday, lawyer David Katz said Peng wanted the items only to sell to other "geeky collectors."

Among the items he sought were a helmet that allows a fighter pilot to control weapons systems, infrared laser targeting devices and thermal weapons sights used on rifles.

"He is basically a collector and he sold it to other people in Taiwan," said Katz, adding Peng wanted the equipment more to play "dress-up" as a collector of military items and not for any nefarious purposes.

"They (collectors) love that whole look, that whole Tom Cruise in 'Top Gun,'" he said, referring to the 1986 movie in which Cruise plays a U.S. Navy fighter pilot.

Prosecutors say Peng, a resident of Taiwan, "worked for a company enagaged in ... reverse-engineering technology, including miltary technology."

The indictment said Peng sent payments of several thousand dollars to a U.S. undercover agent and requested the military equipment be exported without a license and the contents be falsely labeled as toys.

He is not accused of seeking to copy the U.S. military devices. But the items are listed on the United States Munitions List, which requires exporters to obtain licenses and submit registrations, the indictment said.

Katz said Peng is a mechanical engineer who worked at UNU Engineering in Taiwan. He faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years on the money laundering charges alone.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Claudia Parsons and Todd Eastham)